


And I'll Form the Head

by QueenofCheese (Supertights)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Bad Flirting, Bruises, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort Food, Dreams and Nightmares, Drunkenness, Friendship, Gen, Mild Language, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Poisoning, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team as Family, Violence, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2018-12-30 02:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 27,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12098484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supertights/pseuds/QueenofCheese
Summary: Five times Shiro pilots a Voltron Lion that isn't his when he returns. And one time it is.





	1. Blue Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can be a paladin and not pilot a Lion but it's not easy on the spirit.

The first time it happens, it’s an accident. Lance is involved but not responsible. Okay, slightly responsible. It isn’t his fault though. He’s following Allura's orders.

They’ve had 'the talk' about who pilots which lion, which was about as awful as it could be. Shiro had begged off only to give himself time, time to think about how this was going to work so that no one, particularly emotionally vulnerable Lance and self-sacrificing Keith, would give up their place in Voltron for him.

He loves the Black Lion more than… well, anything. He hasn’t admitted to himself how much it hurt that they had replaced him even though he’d pretty much shoved Keith into the pilot's seat of Black and said deal with it.

So, he follows the Voltron song and dance show, wears the Black Paladin armour, sings songs from Princess Allura’s playbook. Not literally. Everyone knows he can't sing. Fields endless questions about why, where, how, and more importantly, when he is going back to the Black Lion.

He doesn’t like the questions. They strip him bare, but he owes it to them to try.

It comes as a surprise that Allura is the one who accidentally gets drunk on fruit juice because she told Lance to set her up with an endless supply of non-alcoholic punch. Bless the kid, he tries. The non-alcoholic punch was made from the fruit and flowers of a sacred tree. Sacred trees in Shiro’s opinion are always dangerous. Seeing Allura shit-faced and giggling right before she throws up on his feet and passes out though, that he blames them all for not noticing, himself included.

“Will the Princess be alright?” asks an elder, wringing their four furry little hands. Twenty similar elders wring eighty hands behind them.

Translation, will the Princess hold this against us and use Voltron to flatten our moon?

“Princess Allura will be fine.” Coran has initially assured him of it after they sent him a blood scan so it's not a lie. “We’ll return this evening for the feast you spoke of,” he says with a reassuring smile. Oh he was making sure a very hungover Princess Allura and her paladin cohort were returning tonight for the feast, the only ones to suffer more than the princess would be the team.

The journey back through the densely packed forest to the Lions passes with Lance and Hunk comparing the landscape to an old movie.

“The landspeeder chase is the best part! Pew pew,” he says loudly and Hunk agrees while Keith disagrees, citing a scene further into the film. Pidge tells them all they have no taste and that the movie before that one is far superior.

Then it’s all on, sequels and prequels, blah blah blah.

Shiro lets the noise wash over him.

“Those evil little teddy bears sure know how to party hearty,” growls Hunk suddenly, his eyes are on Allura.

It’s Lance who holds up a hand when they reach the clearing though. None of Lions have their ramps down, Shiro is sure they had them down when they all left for the banquet in the trees earlier. “Allura can’t pilot in her condition, how are we getting Blue back to the castle?” It both touches and worries Shiro that Lance is concerned just as much for his old Lion partner as he is for the Princess. He shouldn't be split like this.

“Black can carry her,” says Keith confidently, striding towards the Black Lion. The ramp stays up.

Hunk walks over to the Yellow Lion. Ramp doesn’t descend. Nor does Green allow Pidge to board, or Red respond to Lance's pleas. Black towers over them all. Five pairs of eyes are lit up bright yellow, looking down at them. Shiro feels silent judgement.

“Anyone get the sense we’re in the middle of an intervention?” says Hunk slowly.

“Their shields aren’t up though, so it can’t be that serious.” Pidge swallows her words when Green Lion powers up her shield a tick after hearing those words, then the others follow her lead. “Oh hey, how is this my fault,” she barks at her Lion.

Shiro sets the Princess down to lean against a boulder. She’d woken up during the journey and whispered drunken pickup lines non-stop in his ear for the last fifteen dobashes. His cheeks are still burning.

“Okay, talk to your Lions, find out what the problem is.” Four heads turn to their Lions. The other one is trying to quietly puke behind the boulder, he holds her hair out of the way and watchs a silent argument unfold between four sentient machines and four young humans.

“I am so sorry,” moans the princess between each bout of vomiting. “This is so unlike me.” Shiro isn't sure how much more she could have in her. “The punch was not supposed to contain any alcohol.” Quite a bit from the sound of it. “I can usually tolerate more than this.” He winces at a particularly violent burst. “I can’t taste my lips anymore.”

That was one of her worst lines, the second part being, “Could you do it for me?”

“The elders told us it was safe, we trusted them. We all drank the punch, Princess, I’m just sorry you’re the one suffering.” He holds her shoulders gently as she gags a few ticks more and wipes her mouth clean. She gives him a wobbly smile and rests against the boulder again.

Lance trails over after a while. “So, it’s bigger than today. I’m gonna fly the princess back on Red. This could take a while.” The Red Lion lowers its shield as Shiro turns to check.

Coran chooses to open a channel then. _“Paladins? I need you to bring Allura back quite urgently. It appears that the juice of the sacred Manjugolo tree is actually very toxic. Any feelings of euphoria usually precede death. So chop chop and get a move on.”_

“What about vomiting?” asks Shiro, grabbing Allura’s hand as she tries to boop his nose.

_“That wouldn’t necessarily remove the toxins. Just hurry up. I’ll have a pod waiting.”_

Shiro can practically hear his moustache twitching. He and Lance help Allura to her feet and they carry her aboard the Red Lion. Red growls unsettlingly when they enter her cockpit and Shiro feels it vibrate through to his bones. “Sorry, Red,” said Shiro, placing a hand on the back of the pilot’s seat as Lance sits. “Thank you for getting the Princess home safe.”

“I’m just sorry I didn’t realise the punch was packing so much of a-a _punch_.” Lance has apparently decided to beat himself up over something none of them noticed, including the Princess herself.

There are many things Shiro can respond with but he squeezes the young man’s shoulder and says, “It’s not your fault, Lance, it’s on all of us to take care of each other. We’ll learn from it, we always do. Okay?”

He doesn’t like seeing Lance without his trademark smile but then it's back and it’s false as hell but Lance’s trying to fake it to make it. “I’ll come straight back when I’ve delivered ‘ _the package_ ’!” They both look at the Princess, snoring softly in a small heap on the floor.

Lance doesn’t come back though, the Red Lion shuts up right after he steps out to pass the Princess to Coran. They only know because Coran contacts them again. _“Paladins? Now would be a very good time to return. I’ve checked Number Three’s blood panels and well, the Manjugolo tree is more toxic to humans than it is to Alteans but we just metabolise it faster which is not how these things normally work. How many glasses of the juice did you have?”_

Shiro counts on his fingers, since when did he have more than ten fingers? Wait.. no, still ten. “I had two, I’m not sure about anyone else. Okay, we’ll try.”

The team have been in a huddle for a while punctuated by odd high pitched giggles so when Shiro walks over to the Blue Lion, none of them appear to notice. He feels good but he wants to sleep but he’s too wired to sleep and he can’t believe that Allura has stored up so many cheesy pickup lines only to waste them on him. He looks up at Blue and remembers the first day of the great adventure. She has no shield up, her pilot is not around to chastise, Blue looks stony but it’s like her eyes are following him. He waves then lowers his voice so the other paladins can’t hear him, clearing his throat lightly. “Hey Blue? If you were a fruit, you’d be a _fine_ apple,” he whispers. Then giggles, smothering it quickly with both hands before anyone else can hear him losing it. It’s definitely one of the least terrible that Allura whispered. What was his other favourite? Oh yeah! “Oh and hey Blue? If I had a star for every time you brightened my day, I’d be holding a galaxy.” Then he winks, really obvious winkage. With a sigh, he says, “Do you love her, Blue, because I think I love her.” Blue’s ramp hits the dirt with a crash, missing his toes by an inch, and her interior lights up. “Whoa!” he says, then bends over to puke before he stumbles up the ramp to the cockpit. The screens are lit and is she… purring? Blue is a balm to his soul, warm and enveloping, she consoles him. His pain, the inner turmoil he is carrying lessens. He is acceptable to her, more than acceptable. 

His eyes are wet, he swipes at them but they refill. It's a lost cause.

He sits. It’s not the same as Black but it feels good to be in the pilot’s seat again. Blue moves him forward and he opens the comm. “Hey, uh, guys, let’s go home.” He pushes on the controls, savouring the press back as Blue lifts off the ground. She's light and more manoeuvrable than Black so his touch on the controls needs to be just as light. Too bad he's been poisoned and light has dropped out of his vocabulary.

Black, Yellow, and Green have already dropped their shields and opened up, he thinks they did when Blue lowered her ramp. He watches the remaining paladins clamber into their Lion’s and take off.

If he does a couple of spins and makes whooping noises over the comm on the way back to the castle, that was just a hallucination on everyone elses part. Shiro doesn’t spin for fun and he certainly doesn’t whoop.

Plausible deniability is everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT: OMG, math fail! Fixed. Never happened.


	2. Yellow Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bond between Lion and Paladin cannot be forced.

After piloting the Blue Lion, Shiro dreams of water. Good dreams, not nightmares, of gentle waves tickling over his toes as they sink into the sand of a golden beach that stretches out either side of him. He dreams of swimming, the warmth of sunlight on his skin as he drifts. A bone deep thrum vibrates through his soul when he falls into such deep sleeps, he's not experienced anything like it. He doesn’t discuss it with anyone, particularly Princess Allura. She doesn’t appear to hold anything against him so much as she wants the whole embarrassing episode to go away altogether.

It’s only been a day so things might change, he expects them to change.

He owes Coran a favour though, asking the Altean to release him early from the pods regardless of his condition. Coran gives him what feels like five ticks to escape the room in a committed stumble but in hindsight is more like quarter of a varga.

So he lies in his bed, bucket on the floor near his head, though he hasn’t used it yet. He doesn’t see anyone until Keith taps at his door in the early evening. Shiro moans and pulls the blanket over his head. Keith is immune to Shiro’s vagaries now though and opens the door, sending a beam of pure bright light into the room.

“Shut the damn door, Keith,” he hisses.

The damn door shuts and he hears Keith slump back against it. He imagines Keith has his arms folded with a grim look on his face. A peek confirms it and Keith notices him peeking. “We missed you at breakfast, and lunch. Dinner was pretty quiet too.”

“Wasn’t feeling hungry.” His hand finds a gap in the blanket to pull the bucket closer, it scrapes along the floor. He wants Keith to leave.

“Your presence is required in the control room,” says Keith but his voice isn’t unkind.

Shiro groans emphatically in the negative. Nope, no, nevermore.

“As leader of Voltron, I’m ordering you to the control room. Get your ass out of bed, Shirogane.” There he is, leader Keith, but with a dash more smirk than usual from the lightness of his tone. “I _will_ drag you up there. I’ve done it to Pidge and Hunk already. Only had to do it one time. I’m only being more lenient with you because you stupidly left the pods early but Coran said the toxins should have left your system by now so what’s your excuse for this-this....”

“Extra!” shouts Lance from the hallway beyond the door.

“Thank you, Lance. This  _extra_ behaviour from you?”

Shiro makes a raspberry noise at Keith from under the blanket. Wow, he really _is_ being a child. It’s kind of liberating. A hand grasps Shiro’s ankle and he kicks it off. “Fine, Keith,” he says through clenched teeth reluctantly. “Be there in a few.”

Ticks, dobashes, vargas; he never specifies what a few will be. It’s long enough to shower, tie his hair up in a fast and messy bun, dress in his paladin armour, and then still arrive unfashionably late. He ignores Keith’s glare like he has a force field around him. Would it be too much to announce his arrival with an “I’m here!” or something? Probably.

Lance is looking at him oddly. So is Pidge, Hunk, Allura, and Coran. The mice are scratching their heads.

“Now that everyone has arrived…” begins Allura, her smile falters when she looks at him. She clears her throat and straightens. “We have received a communication from Shay of Balmera X-95-Vox.”

Hunk takes over so attention switches to him. “There’s a battleship class crystal, it’s nearly ready to harvest, but a small fleet of mercenaries are heading their way. I said we’d go help the Balmerans. We can always use the crystal or one of our allies might need one.”

“The Blade are down an entire base so they might need one,” says Keith thoughtfully, he looks around the room at them all. “We’ll wormhole in and Voltron will be waiting when that fleet arrives. Shiro, you’ll provide air support with Coran from the Castle of Lions.” The paladins leave for their Lions and Shiro leans against a wall. It’s not surprising, he expected it. It doesn't stop the ache in his heart though.

He’s acting out of character, he doesn’t know where it’s come from, but this is so boring and he fights the urge to drop to the floor and stick his legs in the air. That would be too much. He takes position at a secondary weapons console and cracks his knuckles ready to kick ass.

It’s only half a varga before Hunk reaches out. _“Guys! Shay says there’s a merc ship on the ground  already and they’re in the tunnels heading for the crystal. The Balmerans are trying but they aren’t equipped for this. I’m heading down to back them up.”_ There is a flurry of angry back and forth between Keith and Hunk but the Yellow Paladin leaves the dog fight for the surface.

 _“Shiro, get your ass down there now and help him,”_ says Keith over the comm.

“Bit busy,” he replies tightly. He and Coran are pushing the larger ships back but the Castle is getting hammered. It’s not the same degree of damage as a Galra cruiser would inflict but the Castle is old and they’re still fixing systems from the last battle.

_“Did I stutter? I said now.”_

“Well I guess i better get my ass down there,” he says.

“Best then,” replies Coran with more than a touch of amusement. His hands a blur over the weapons controls. "Are you sure you're feeling alright, Number One?"

A tick later and Shiro’s on a skiff and heading for the surface in the middle of an all out skirmish between the Lions and the mercs in small ships reconstituted from salvaged Galra fighters. He grins at the insanity of it and then he’s in one of the vertical tunnels, narrowly averting the crosswalks that spider web through the depths of the tunnel. He sees the merc ship and the Yellow Lion at the bottom. Even on the skiff he feels the walls closing in, how much closer would it feel in a Lion? He abandons the skiff to land using his jetpack. Behind him the skiff hits the mercenary ship and explodes. Just like a movie. Rax is waiting, catches his eye with an angry wave, and Shiro’s running after the Balmeran who sets a hard pace.

Mercenaries lie dead in the tunnels, some are buried under cave-ins, some have even been torn apart, and yet others have gone down to Hunk’s cannon. The Yellow Paladin is clearly taking no prisoners but neither are the Balmerans.

“Update me?” he yells. There’s still weapons fire ahead somewhere and Rax stops for tick to touch the wall of the tunnel, it glows and fades.

“The Yellow Paladin is with the crystal. He is foolish. He is attempting to exchange energy for it.” Rax makes a noise.

“I thought only Alteans could do that.” Shiro is hopelessly lost, each tunnel looks the same and he pulls up a map from his vambrace. It shows the tunnel system on this level. Hunk is close.

“As I said, foolish.”

Shiro bristles at the criticism of his friend because foolish is not how Shiro would have described it. Brave. Kind. Selfless. They round the corner to a crystal nest and Hunk is leaning against the biggest crystal in the room. It’s a monster. It’s also completely erupted from the ground. The two of them are not carrying it out easily. Hunk can’t even stand. Shiro crouches near him. “Hey, how are you doing?”

“Oh wow, Shiro, there are no words for how awesome it was to share energy with the Balmera! Everyone said I couldn’t do it but I showed them, huh?” Hunk is sweating profusely and he looks a little too pale for Shiro’s liking.

“Can you stand?” Shiro slips his hand under Hunks arm and no, Hunk can’t stand on his own.

“Oops,” says Hunk with a grin and passes out cold.

“Quiznak!” They all duck as both energy and projectile fire comes from the tunnel behind them. Shiro shields Hunk with both the energy shield in his armour and his body. He considers his options but as always it ends with him charging at the mercs with his Galra arm lit up. It’s different using it against living beings, he never thinks about the robotic sentries he’s chewed through in his many fights but the mercs are living beings, albeit evil money grubbing living beings. They make it easy for him with their fear as they flee from him. He hears shouts of 'The Champion!' and snatches about bounties but no one wants to try him and the tunnel is cleared.

He doesn’t need the reminder of that lost year. Nor the fighting living beings with his Galra arm.

“I think if we can get the crystal out of here, they’ll have no reason to stick around and fight.” He turns but the Balmerans are already moving.

“I will carry the Yellow Paladin,” says Shay, scooping Hunk from the ground like he’s a child. She cradles him against her body carefully. “It is an honour.”

Other Balmerans move the crystal onto a hover sled and Shiro is running ahead to keep the tunnels clear. The Yellow Lion waits for Hunk to return, her maw opens when they approach, the ramp coming down. Shiro leads the Balmerans in to store the crystal in a pull down webbing that will allow it to move and rock around in the cargo space without getting damaged. A second harness is secured in the cockpit and they place Hunk in it carefully. It’s more like a hammock than a safety web.

Shay touches Hunk’s face lightly before retreating back to the tunnels. The Yellow Lion pulls up it’s ramp after the last Balmeran disappears from view.

 _“Hunk! Where the hell are you?”_ Keith’s face appears on Shiro’s vambrace screen, the picture is scratchy and blinks in and out. _“Shiro? What’s happening down there? We need to form Voltron!”_

Well, quiznak, that's not happening soon. “He’s unconscious, Keith.” Shiro flips the screen so Keith can see the Yellow Paladin secured in the webbing.

There’s a brace more quiznaks from the others.

 _“Wake him up, Shiro!”_ says Allura, she looks a little flustered.

“Princess? It's not that easy. I--” He can what? Wake Hunk? There’s no way that Hunk is not sleeping off the energy exchange for a week minimum. So what, should he try to bond with another Lion that’s not Black? Over the comms, in the background, the other paladins are shouting at each other, directions to duck left, go low, brake, and Shiro can only wait, hands covering his helmet helplessly. He sits in Hunk’s seat and leans against the armrest. “Hey Yellow,” he says uncertainly. With Blue, he’d been in a state of toxic euphoria, it felt easier then than it did now.There is no response on any level.

His stomach chooses then to rumble loudly. Oh. Maybe skipping breakfast, lunch, and dinner might not have been the best idea before flying down to a planet and then sprinting through tunnels while his adrenalin is going through the roof. He checks his pouches but he’s not packed food in them foolishly. “Damn,” he says as his stomach rumbles again and he leans back in the chair, trying to focus on the battle and not his hunger.

In the armrest, a hidden compartment springs open. The smell wafting out is enough to have him up out of the pilot’s chair and hovering over it, salivating. There’s food in there. He picks up one of the roughly finished round balls, bright red and yellow, and sniffs it. It smells like a Reece’s peanut butter cup? It’s not possible. Shiro puts it in his mouth and it tastes like…. He feels a tear slide down his cheek, followed quickly by a few more.

It tastes like home.

“Thanks, Yellow. I’ll just have one, I don’t want to eat Hunk’s secret stash of….” No less than twenty other hidden compartments spring open. As does Shiro’s mouth. “Uh. Okay, maybe one more.” He tries to savour it, let it dissolve slowly on his tongue but it’s gone just as quickly as the first one.

The cockpit rumbles. Yellow’s purrs are more bone-rattling than Blue’s.

Yellow pops the food compartments open and shut until Shiro gets the hint and gathers a few things, then they all slam shut simultaneously. His stomach settles down with the food.

“Thanks again, Yellow.” Pulling his legs up, he sits cross-legged on the seat eating.

 _“Shiro!”_ It’s Keith again, he’s breathing hard and there’s an odd hitch in each exhale. _“Is Hunk awake yet?”_

A glance back confirms not. There is a growl when Shiro reports it but the connection is so flaky, he’s not sure it gets through and he rambles. “Keith, I don’t think Yellow and I are simpatico. Maybe I-I’m not… okay yeah, I’m not Hunk, not anything like Hunk. Maybe I really am unnec--” He chokes on it because he recognises what's happening now, it must have come through the connection with Blue and  even knowing that he’d still give anything for a Hunk hug.

He doesn’t think he says any of it out loud either but suddenly a single screen pops up in front of him, then others until the cockpit is fully activated. There is a sensation all around him, like he is being squeezed and the air is spilling from his lungs. It’s like being in Hunk’s arms and Shiro is… grateful.

Trying a control, the Yellow Lion stands up on four feet. Emboldened, Shiro launches them up the vertical tunnel, and Yellow explodes out and through several of the mercenary fighters, rolling to smash into a few more that are harrying the Green Lion.

 _“Hunk!”_ shouts Pidge, the comms are still not working properly and faces flash and disappear across the screens. _“You took your sweet ass time getting here.”_

 _“Forget that, form Voltron!”_ bellows Keith.

Shiro wavers, he doesn’t know if this is going to work but Yellow is there, guiding him, and somehow they manage. The sword forms and cuts through the last few large ships in bare ticks. Any stragglers turn tail and run.

The comms come clear then, the interference gone with the last ship, and there is scramble of voices talking over each other. They’re still together, still Voltron, and Shiro is weirded out and a little nauseous if he’s honest.

 _“Hunk, what happened down there?”_ asks Pidge, her face appearing on a screen beside him. She does a double-take at Shiro sitting in Hunk’s seat and piloting his Lion. Then she screeches and Shiro isn’t entirely sure if it’s a good screech or a bad screech but the other paladins and Coran appear on every screen available.

“Hey, guys! I’m a leg!” he says weakly, his smile nervous.

 Plausible deniability is eliminated with the sound of five jaws hitting the floors of four Lions and a castle.

 _“So you_ did _pilot the Blue Lion?”_ says Princess Allura. She doesn’t sound angry at all. If anything, she sounds thoughtful and… pleased?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slowly feeling better, so I can't blame all this on being sick anymore. Oops.


	3. Green Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality, mirrored by her Paladin.

The Princess and Coran take one look at Hunk and put him in a healing pod muttering about too much quintessence lost to just let him sleep it off. They share a look. ‘Humans!’ Shiro can just about hear them thinking it. Once they oversee Hunk into the pod, all eyes turn to him.

It’s not exactly an argument but there is a edge of discomfort to the room. Of possessiveness. He slips away while they discuss him. It’s kind of rude. He’s too tired for this.

Sleep is a complicated affair though and he suspects a tug of war is happening in his mind as his dreams feature both oceans and deserts. In his heart, he longs to dream of the stars again. Still wrapped up in his blanket like a human burrito, he wakes with a surprised snort when someone knocks on his door. How long was he asleep?

“Shiro?” It's Hunk.

He rolls over to face the noise, he’s not sure he wants to face the Yellow Paladin but he gets up anyway, clinging to his blanket, and opens the door.

Hunk’s face lights up when he sees Shiro. “Oh hey--”

Draping himself over Hunk, Shiro hugs him. He’s not normally a hugger but Hunk must surely be in need of a good hug right now and Shiro’s gonna give it to him. He feels one of Hunk’s arms rise up to encircle him and pat his back.

From inside the hug, Hunk says, “Uh, so you missed every possible meal again today and a little yellow birdie told me you liked these.” Hunk has a container in his other hand filled to the brim with small yellow and red balls of yummy goodness. “Maybe don’t eat them all at once.”

Shiro doesn’t like to think he drops Hunk like a stone to accept the food but he kind of does. “You--” he says through a mouthful of alien candy. “That was….”

Hunk blushes and ducks his head, “Yeah, I know. The others already said it was brave and selfless and all that stuff.”

“Stupid!” He stuffs another ball into his mouth and pulls his blanket closer. “Of course it was brave and kind and selfless but you could’ve given up too much energy and died, Hunk. And for a girl no less.” He doesn’t mention he’s done it a couple of times himself because that’s not the point.

“No. No, that’s not why I--” says Hunk, shaking his head.

Shiro doesn’t reply. Simply gives his fellow paladin an amused stare.

“How can you say that? It was totally not because of--” Hunk gives up and smiles sheepishly. “So maybe a tiny percentage of what I did was because of--” Then he shoves his hands through his hair and groans. “Was Shay impres--?”

Grinning, Shiro says, “Oh yeah.”

“That’s not why I did it though.”

“Right.” They stare at each other for a tick. Shiro is waiting for Hunk to ask but Hunk doesn’t ask. Damn, it means he’s going to have to bring it up.

“About your Lion…” His mouth is dry. He could avoid Allura after Blue and say it was a hallucination or something but with Yellow, they all saw it. Except Hunk.

“Dude, you did me a solid; I was out cold. What else is my man, Shiro, going to do but save the day?” Hunk grins like he’s impressed. “I don’t think I could’ve done it, me and Yellow, we’re like two peas in a pod.”

“It wasn’t like--,” says Shiro and, just like that, he’s not hungry anymore. “I didn’t save anything.”

“Sure you didn’t.” They could argue it out or hug it out so Shiro chooses the hug and Hunk leaves happy.

Well, he’s up now so he might as well do something. He changes into his day clothes and washes his face, leaving his hair loose. It’s going to annoy him later but he doesn’t care enough to fix it. He finds the princess and Coran in the control room. “Can I help with anything?” he asks, trying for energetic and missing by a wide margin.

Allura looks at him and he feels her gaze strip layers away. It stays on him too long and he fidgets. “Are you feeling better, Shiro? You looked very tired when you left and I assumed when you didn’t appear this morning, that you were taking a rest day. Why don’t you continue to rest and we’ll catch up tomorrow.” They turn back to their work and Shiro feels the slap of dismissal and it’s not entirely what he expected.

“Okay,” he says, turning to leave when a chitter catches his ear. All four mice are sitting on the console nearest to him. They swarm off and up his body to sit on his shoulders, tiny paws threading through his hair, clinging and making odd noises that are all kinds of soothing. Maybe he should tell Allura he’s taking them with him. “I’m giving the mice a bath,” he says. They chatter at him excitedly. He wants to invite Allura to join him but the moment already feels awkward.

He counts himself lucky he hasn’t run into Keith yet. Or Lance. Pidge finds him in the kitchen filling a shallow basin with warm water. The mice are playing with his hair while they wait.

“Shiro!”

“Busy,” he says, preempting whatever she’s going to ask.

“Yeah but--” Pidge is distracted by the mice as they play rock, paper, scissors for first bath and Plachu wins. The mouse climbs onto Shiro’s cupped hands to be lowered into the water where it swims around a bit.

“Can I help?” She slides in next to Shiro and looks up at his closed expression. “Please?”

He sighs. Pidge will wait him out, she’s like the fox to his rabbit. When he’s done with the mice, she’ll return to the hunt and pounce on him. “Sure. Have you done this before?”

She shakes her head and watches as he takes a little mouse shampoo and lathers it in his hands before giving Plachu a gentle but thorough clean.

“Towel,” he says and she readies one of the four towels Shiro has prepared to catch the clean mouse. Shiro rubs Plachu dry and raises the mouse to bump noses. He lowers the towel to counter top and wraps it around Plachu until only a two red eyes watch them restfully. “Done. Your turn, Pidge. Who’s next?”

Tiny Chulatt clings to Pidge’s fingers as she lowers them into the water. Pidge replicates his method perfectly; lathering, washing the wriggling mouse gently, drying, and finally nose bumping. “Why the boop?” she asks, wrapping the tiny mouse and setting it down next to Plachu who is now snoring softly.

“They like it. I have no idea where it came from, ask the Princess. You wash, I’ll dry.” They share cleaning the last two mice, rolling them in the towels to doze.

Pidge clears her throat and follows him around with her eyes as he puts away the emptied basin and cleaning equipment. He cuts her off with a hug. “Thanks for helping, Pidge.”

Her voice is muffled in his vest and that’s not exactly why he did it but he holds on until her fists punch him lightly in the ribs. She gasps for breath when he releases her and narrows her eyes at him. “Don’t think I can’t see through this obvious display of avoidance, Shiro.”

He widens his eyes and holds up his hands, palms out in concession. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Pidge.”

“I want you to try--”

“No,” he says. If his voice if a little too firm and it sounds harsh even to his ears, well, that’s just how it is.

“You don’t even know what I was going to--”

“Yes. I do.” He walks out of the kitchen, through the dining hall. She dogs his steps.

“Stop interrupting me!”

“I can’t hear you,” he sing-songs on the way to the training deck. They keep the back and forth up the entire walk. When they arrive, Keith looks up from the floor; he’s holding a water pouch and sweating hard. A damaged gladiator lies near by. He looks up at them with a scowl. They’re interrupting his time out.

“Keith, Shiro is being annoying again,” growls Pidge.

He turns, jabbing a finger towards her. It’s thin line between where his finger stops and where it would’ve hit her in the chest. “Fine, you know what, Pidge, if you can beat me in one-on-one combat, I’ll do what you want.”

She stops dead and her expression changes rapidly through disbelief to frustration and anger to acceptance. Then she begins to pace. “That’s so unfair, Shiro. You know I can’t beat you in a fair….” She stops again, and looks at him. Cunning. That’s how he would describe it. “I accept your challenge,” she says, venom dripping from the words.

Keith smirks.

Shiro worries.

He kills some time by raiding the chiller and having a snack. Then goes to dress in his paladin armour. He’s surprised by the knock on his door as he settles his belt at his waist. Lance waits nervously outside, hands shoved into his pockets. “Hey, Shiro, got a tick?”

Anything to delay the inevitable.

“Sure, buddy,” he says. Lance needs a hug. Shiro can see that instantly. As Lance moves past him, Shiro grabs him and smothers him in the biggest, deepest, most crushing hug he can manage. It’s not Hunk level but it’ll do in a pinch. Lance squeaks.

“So you’re not angry at me?” The Blue Paladin’s eyes are a bit too moist.

“What? Why would you think that?” Shiro is speechless, where has this come from? He’s avoiding everyone equally.

“You keep avoiding me. Keith says it’s not personal, you’re avoiding all of us, but--”

Oh quiznak. Lance and Keith have been talking. “Lance.” Something blue bubbles up at the back of his mind and the words spill through his lips before his brain mouth filter can kick into gear. “Lancey Lance.”

Lance’s eyes are so wide they might pop right out his head. “It’s the Lions, isn’t it?”

Double quiznak. Shiro sighs and pushes his hair back off his face.

Lance catches his hands, stilling them. “Let me.” Long fingers make short work of a neat braid and Lance ties it off with a band he pulls out of a pocket. “One of Allura’s hair bands should keep this unholy mess under control. You’ve gotta let me condition this tonight. Seriously, it’s necessary.”

Odd choice of words.

“Necessary,” he repeats.

Lance eyes him uncertainly. “Are you okay, Shiro?”

“It’s not personal, Lance. I just need time.” But not too much time, he doesn’t know how much longer he can stay here and not return to the bond that he has… had, with the Black Lion.

 _“Shiro?”_ Pidge’s voice on his comm. She sounds too chipper. It’s suspicious.

He groans. “Coming,” he replies with no real enthusiasm.

“What’s going on?” asks Lance, his face is brighter now that he’s established Shiro isn’t angry at him.

“I challenged Pidge to a duel, one-on-one, winner takes all bout. In hindsight, probably a mistake.” He pushes Lance out of his room and shuts the door. “Let’s get this over with. Are you sure you want to walk in there with me? I can give you a few ticks to run ahead.”

“Nah, I’m good,” says Lance, grinning. “So what do you win?”

“A bit of peace and quiet?” He hopes.

“What does Pidge win?” Lance’s got a thoughtful expression going on.

“Me trying to bond with the Green Lion.”

Lance comes to a halt and puts a hand on Shiro’s arm. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop! What the fudge? Did Keith agree to that? Did Allura?” He’s angry for Shiro, or concerned, maybe both. “That’s not cool.”

“I don’t know, Lance, I’m not psychic.” Shiro shrugs. “Keith was there when it happened.” Didn’t necessarily mean he knew what Pidge’s endgame was though. “It’s too late to call it off and I’m not trying to connect with another lion. So I need to win.” He’s thinly stretched as it is, with three extra voices in his head, albeit the one he really needs to hear is far distant.

He’s aware of Lance glancing at him frequently but he can ignore it.

They walk in together and Pidge is waiting, Keith beside her. Shiro pulls Lance back before he launches himself at their leader. “It’s okay, Lance.”

“She’s a little cheater, she’s gonna pull something, look at that face.”

He did, Pidge was radiating unnaturally high confidence, even for her. “Rules,” he asks, beginning his stretches. He’s not going to go easy on her. Sometimes you have to pay the price for being a smart little shit. “No bayards.”

She gasps, annoyed. “What? No fair.”

“Fair,” says Lance, still beside him, bravely staring down the gremlin. “Shiro doesn’t have a bayard.”

“His arm is on permanently.” She points at the offending limb.

“Everyone will know if I use it beyond its role as my prosthetic,” counters Shiro immediately. Stretching is good, he’s not doing enough training lately. He’ll step it up after this. “The game is over if I use it. If you cheat, gloves come off.”

Pidge swallows. “Well, I don’t know what you mean about cheating,” she mumbles but she returns her bayard to it’s place on her hip.

She should be more concerned about gloves coming off.

“Okay, I want a clean fight, one round,” says Keith, he steps between them just in time for Hunk to arrive with Allura and Coran. They look confused and ask Keith to join them.

Shiro narrows his focus in on the Green Paladin. She’s returning it one hundred percent. “Can still call it off,” he says, trying to knock her confidence. “You’ll still be able to walk without limping tomorrow.”

She declines to reply but the moment they start she’s down and sliding across the floor. “Two out of three,” she growls.

Three out of four, then seven out of ten, nineteen out of… Shiro agrees each time, it’s her that’s going to need the ice bath later. Some small corner of his mind says he should call it off but that part gets drowned out by a louder voice.

When she cheats, he almost misses it, just a light crackle and her bayard catches him on the hip. The jolt gives him clarity.

“Gloves are off,” he says with a ferocious smile. He can ignore the voices in his head. Just like he can ignore the other paladins begging them to stop. “Why is this so important to you?”

“You don’t get how special you are! You’ve bonded with three Lions, Shiro. I want to see how you did it.” Pidge circles him, she’s limping and bruised but the bayard is lit, ropes of energy spill across the floor.

“Life is all about disappointment,” he says.

Keith reminds them all that he piloted Black far before Shiro piloted Blue. His arms are crossed and he’s concerned, frowning. If he thinks it’s out of control, he’s right. They both snarl at him and Allura steps forward to call it to an end.

Shiro catches it from the edge of his vision, green snaking through the air at him and he’s down and rolling back before it can connect. His arm begins to light up and he’s back up on his feet, running at her. Pidge backs up fast.

“Stop this!” screams Allura, and he can see she’s going to try and get between them.

Shiro turns his head briefly to tell her to back off when the bayard snaps around his Galra hand and then more around his shoulders and legs. It’s going to hurt, he already knows it will hurt but he grabs it with both hands and yanks Pidge toward him, tossing the excess around her upper body. Her eyes widen and she tries to get loose but it’s too late, she’s already sent the voltage shooting down the length of the bayard and it hits them both. He’s screaming but so is she. They go down, close, linked by the still glowing rope.

“Shiro! Pidge, stop it, this is stupid! What the hell are you even fighting about?” That’s Keith. Shiro glimpses Lance run to grab Keith with a shout and propel him into the fight with a question on his lips. “What about the Green Lion?!”

“Not over yet,” Shiro tells her through gritted teeth.

Pidge is still looking at him when she sends a second round of voltage through them both and they scream again. God but Shiro is glad she’s on their side of this war.

He blinks and he’s staring at her and she’s looking back, tears in her eyes. His back is in agony, arching with the pain and he’s twitching.

With the next blink, he’s back in the arena.

 

_He’s on the ground twitching but his eyes are fixed open so he sees his opponent lash out again with the long serpentine tail that took him down the first time. Sparks leap between the ridges along its length. It hits him again and he claws the sandy floor, his nails tearing, leaving bloody streaks, and he bites down on the meat of his tongue. Blood fills his mouth and spills down his chin. He only has one weapon left and when that tail is leaving him gasping, he grasps it with his Galra hand and drags the whole monster back to him._

 

There are voices in his ear calling his name. When did they know his name? He’s not Shiro, he’s the Champion! There is roaring, animalistic and deafening.

 

_He pulls his opponent towards him. If he can get them close enough, he can tear them apart. It’s screaming of course, it can see his eyes. He can’t scream though, his tongue is damaged, vocal cords still burning in his throat from screaming until something broke there when his body was snapping in half, overcome with energy._

 

“Shiro! It’s okay, you’re okay. Let go of it. Get the bayard out of her hand before she tazes all of us! I can’t get his prosthetic to release it!”

He chokes, then tries to breathe but something is between his teeth, jamming his mouth open. He fights as hands touch him without permission. On the next breath he is gone in a blinding rush of verdant light that wraps around him like vines and soft leaves, flowers bloom on his skin.

 

He returns slowly, rising to awareness through forests and deserts and oceans. His eyes are closed but he can feel someone stroke his face, gentle fingers that brush across his aching cheeks and sooth his forehead and brow. There is something soft under his head, and hair is hanging in his face, the ends tickle and so do the soft breaths. He cracks his eyes open to see who is holding him.

“Hey,” rasps Pidge, her glasses are off and she looks like he feels. Which is a bit broken. Lance and Hunk are kneeling beside Pidge, holding her up. Neither will look at him.

“Hey,” he replies to Pidge, in a voice as damaged as hers. He wants to cry but she beats him to it, each teardrop like a bullet on his face. “Ow,” he says through tears of his own. “You won.”

She sniffles a laugh. “By cheating! Oh you have no idea, I doubled the output of the bayards tazer. It took Green to shut us down.”

He gives her that, confiding, “Hmmm, well, I wasn’t my best self either.”

Tucking a stray lock of hair behind one ear, she leans closer and whispers, “Why didn’t you want to do it, Green is the best?” Tears are still falling on his face.

Smiling gently because he can't lift his hand to wipe away her tears, his arms feel like leaden weights. “It _hurts_ , Katie. They aren't my Lions.” He isn’t going to admit more than that.

“Oh.” She looks stricken then, perhaps she understands what he means but even if she doesn’t, remorse and shame and sorrow fight for space in her expression. “I’m so sorry, Shiro.”

“It’s okay, kind of a moot point now.” He sighs and closes his eyes for a few ticks. Green things fills his senses and a purr rattles his mind and if anything, the Green Lion is even more curious about the situation than Pidge is.

“Except the mechanics. You have to actually sit in the seat and pilot her.” She sniffs again. “Can you do that?”

He doesn’t know if he wants to but Green bunts up against his mind and urges him to try when he can walk again. "Okay, I'll try."

Keith’s boots stomp into sight beside his head. “You’re both _idiots_!” He circles them, too enraged to speak. But he gestures. A lot.

Shiro wants to close his eyes again but he’s responsible for this mess. Everything is pain, every part of him is aching to the bones. He can’t imagine how Pidge is even moving. “Well that’s me out. I’m heading to bed.” He tries to sit up but a hand settles on his chest, holding him down without effort.

“I think _not_ ,” says Allura firmly, her expression is one of profound disappointment. “When Coran returns with the stretchers, you are both going into a pod. Not that you deserve it, either of you, but you have damaged yourselves enough with this ridiculous display of stubbornness!” Her eyes are flaring, the pink highlights catching the light. “And we cannot be down two paladins. The Galra might attack at any time.”

“Yeah, I heard some noises coming from both of you that I never want to hear again. Like ever.” Hunk this time, dried tears track the length of his cheeks. Lance has matching tracks on his face and he’s missing his jacket. Ah, that must be under Shiro’s head.

“Why are you so _stubborn_?” Keith roars, hands thrown up in disgust. He has burns on both palms from the bayard. Shiro’s mouth goes dry and he is grateful. For all of them. Keith goes back to gesturing.

“Wake me up when he’s done,” whispers Shiro and Pidge nods, a smile curling the corner of her mouth up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm, these things get longer and longer. Not sure when the next chapter will be up. I won't have as much time to write this week. The fallout of each chapter takes place in the following one.


	4. Red Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Voltron Lions are sentient. How this has been achieved through Altean alchemy is unknown. All records of their creation were lost with the fall of Altea. The few notes that remain of their earliest phase are that the Lions are capable of strong emotional bonds with their pilot companions - the Paladins.
> 
> When the bond between Lion and Paladin is severed, the grief suffered is inestimable.

There’s always a moment when he comes out of the healing pod where Shiro isn’t sure if he’s awake or still dreaming. A moment when his body moves forwards and his brain hasn’t caught up yet. Usually there are more voices. Usually they would be crowding around him. A frown forms.

He opens his eyes and Coran is waiting. Coran is alone.

For all that he holds himself apart from the paladins, Coran is still family. It should be enough, why isn't it enough?

Coran has a hand to steady him, his presence is calm and his manner capable. “Number One, how do you feel?”

How is he feeling? It’s complicated lately. He’s still sore, tired, hungry, anxious, and a bunch of other lesser and greater emotions, and physical sensations, that he suspects don’t all belong to him. Not least among them, he is _hurt_.

He must adjust to the new status quo; he's not a paladin, he's support now.

“Fine,” he replies to Coran, a shaky wobble to his lip betrays his exhaustion.

The older Altean is used to him under-reporting the degree of his own injuries and disregards his first answer. “Fine, eh?” Coran removes his hand and without the support, Shiro leans sideways towards the floor. “Yes, as I thought.” Coran’s hand cups Shiro’s elbow and straightens him up like he weighs nothing. It’s disconcerting when Allura does it, no less when it’s Coran. “How do you feel? Honestly this time.”

“I regret engaging in a childish fight with Pidge.” He’s too mature to pout so he's not pouting. Nope. Not at all. 

He's still obliged to try piloting the Green Lion, and yeah, despite any words he’s given to the contrary, he’s not looking forward to that.

With a snort and moustache twitch, Coran says, “Physically.”

“Oh.” Shiro takes stock of what his body is telling him. “I’ve been better.” He hurts. Even his aches ache.

“You’ve been in the healing pod an entire quintant and some, Number One, you shouldn’t be feeling any pain. Number Five was out and fit as a flitmal in a half of that.” Coran picks up a tablet with his free hand. “Let’s get you back to your quarters, it’s likely just residual.” They move slowly down hallways, Shiro sets the pace, and soon they stop in front of his room. “Rest for now. I’ll bring you something to eat.”

Great. Unpalatable food incoming. His stomach growls disloyally.

“I will never get used to that,” muses Coran. He’d jumped in front of Allura the first time Hunk’s stomach had rumbled at the very mention of food.

Shiro bit back a snort of amusement. Coran has probably been exposed to a plethora of bodily noises from the new paladins by now. Possibly also smells. “Where is everyone, Coran?” It’s the first time Shiro has emerged from healing without even one of the paladins waiting for him. Early hurt has given way to worry.

“Oh, just a meet and greet. You, Number One, have been granted a rare pass on a diplomatic shindig. I doubt it will happen again soon; on every planet, station, and moon, they always want to meet the Black Paladin. I didn’t feel it warranted bringing you out of the pod early. Your health will always be more important.” Coran opens the door and Shiro feels eyes on him as he walks unsteadily through. “I’ll be back.”

The door closes and Shiro sits on the edge of the bed, leaning forward. His head hangs between his hands and throbs. He needs to remove the healing suit before he does anything more, it’s never easy alone but somehow he manages to get the top half down to his waist and gives up for a few doboshes. He still has bruises, he can see them. They aren’t small.

His body aches relentlessly. He’s never felt this bad coming out of a healing pod, it’s usually going in.

Rising slowly, he makes it to the bathroom. The reflection in the mirror is unflinching. His upper body is heavily bruised, burns lash his body where Pidge’s bayard landed. Where he wore armour, they are minor but everywhere else…. He isn’t sure he wants to see his back. It's like he was never even in the healing pod.

The door opens and Coran appears behind him, carrying a bowl of something bright pink and still wiggling, or maybe Shiro’s imagining that part. Coran drops it upon sight of Shiro’s back. Mirror Shiro watches it unfold with no small measure of relief. The bowl hits the floor without breaking and the contents escape to the four corners of the room.

“Quiznak!”

They return to the healing pods but Shiro’s not sure it’s going to be any more successful than the first round of treatment. Coran is muttering to himself, reading a new scan, the results of which he refuses to share with Shiro.

“Have you heard anything from Princess Allura?” Shiro asks. It's too quiet without the younger paladins. Sometimes the silence is his friend, times like this, it isn’t.

“Nothing yet.”

That doesn't lessen his anxiety. “How do you do it?”

“Hmmm?” Coran looks up from the scan and Shiro notices the shadows beneath the Altean’s eyes. How has he not noticed before? “Do what?”

What indeed. “Wait for the sky to fall.”

Coran freezes and it’s like he forgot how to move, or speak, or function at all. He stares at Shiro, face carefully smooth and neutral. He’s like it for a few ticks before he shakes it off, visibly, and turns away from Shiro to program the healing pod. “I’m not sure I understand, Number One.”

The day Voltron isn’t enough. The day the Royal House of Altea finally falls and four kids from Earth don’t come back. Shiro stills, perhaps his choice of words is too direct, a grim reminder of Altea to a man who has lost too much already. He regrets saying anything and grimaces. “It’s not important.”

They studiously avoid looking at each other until Shiro returns to the pod. Coran meets his eyes before he closes it. “Faith, Number One. This time it’s only a party, they will be fine. I’ll be here when you wake.”

Faith. Shiro closes his eyes and succumbs to healing sleep once more.

 

Pidge is waiting for him when he emerges from the healing pod a second time. She’s the only paladin around but Coran hovers close by. Stepping forward, she wraps her arms around Shiro’s waist, hugs him tight. He forgets that the force of her personality is far larger than her actual size until she’s in his bubble and squeezing the life out of him. It hurts a little, even after another session in the pod. She's stronger than she was even a year ago.

“How are you, Pidge?” he asks. Last he saw, she was limping into a pod of her own, hand pressed to her side. He would call her Katie but Coran is present and she has expressed a preference for Pidge in shared company.

“Better,” she says, looking up at him with a smile. “Now you’re okay too, I feel a lot better. You _are_ okay, right?”

What is it that Lance always says? Fake it ‘til you make it. “Yeah, I’m okay,” he replies. Mentally, he crosses his fingers.

She nods once and adjusts her glasses. Matt’s glasses. “Everyone’s waiting for you in the dining hall.” There’s something that Pidge isn’t saying. About why she’s the only one here maybe or why everyone else is in the dining hall? He’s nervous, a warning unspoken is still a warning his gut tells him. “I’ve planned out our day around you piloting the Green Lion. Nothing serious, just a little road trip, some fun and games. You’ll love it.” She grins at him, as smiles go it's wide and fierce. “Lance is coming too.”

He nods, numb. Coran comes over finally, holding his scanner. “I’m going to borrow Number One for a few doboshes, Number Five. Don’t worry, he’ll be along shortly. You can torture him emotionally some more then.” It’s almost too quick but Coran winks over her head at Shiro.

Pidge frowns and lets go. “We’ll be waiting.”

He’s not sure how he should take that as anything but a veiled threat. Or maybe he's just feeling paranoid.

“Same question as earlier, Number One?” Coran is scanning again now that Pidge is gone.

How is he feeling? Shiro wonders if the scanner contains a lie detector then dismisses the thought. Of course it does. “Fine, Coran. Less pain overall.” They see if the bruising is reduced and it is, the burns have disappeared under the other scar tissue.

Coran hums. “Very well. I won’t delay you any further.” Then he looks up and gives him a tight smile. “I’ll see you shortly.”

Shiro returns to his quarters and showers quickly before changing into civilian clothes. He feels better for it. It’s all a chance to centre himself before the unknown. There’s a knock on his door and he opens it to find Keith loitering outside. “Come to make sure I don’t run away?” he asks; it’s a joke as weak as they come but Keith eyes him suspiciously. “I’m joking, Keith. I had a shower. I think we can agree none of us come out of the healing pods smelling like roses.”

Keith’s nose wrinkles and he sighs. “Oh yeah. Come on, let’s get it over with.”

Could he try any harder to make it feel like he was marching Shiro to his own court martial? He steps out of the room, letting the door shut behind him.

“Let’s get _what_ over with exactly?” He's unsure if Keith will answer. 

“Princess Allura wants to talk about how you’ve been piloting the Lions.” Keith shrugs, he piloted the Black Lion when he was still the Red Paladin, he at least has an understanding of how it works. “Nothing serious, we just need to know you’re okay trying the Red Lion. We might as well have an understanding of why it’s happening and how. Lance couldn’t get back into Blue after Red chose him. Pidge is curious. Even Hunk thinks we should know why it's so easy for you.”

So _easy_ for him? Keith must be joking. “Are you serious?” he says with a little more force than is strictly necessary.

Keith nods but his eyes widen at the tone.

Shiro owes Keith a thoughtful reply though, it's his due as the leader of Voltron and as his friend. So, is he okay piloting another Lion that isn’t Black? It doesn't feel like piloting is all he's doing, it's a level above pilot but below paladin. A grey area no one knew existed. Time ticks by as he considers. Keith fidgets with his Marmora blade.

As if it was going to be easy. Fine, he can try. “Fine,” Shiro growls, "I'll try."

The thought makes him nauseous but fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. He breathes out. In and out. Keeps moving, keeps breathing. Let’s it all wash off him. He’s fine.

“You’re not fine.” Keith. Intuitive as always. 

It isn’t as if he’s projecting unhappiness right now, which he is. He doesn’t trust himself to speak beyond simple bite-like sentences. He really doesn’t want to lash out at Keith who doesn’t deserve it. Keith who probably volunteered to come find Shiro. He’s doing the best he can. “It’s fine, Keith,” he says with less heat.

“I’ll tell them it’s a bad idea.”

"Don't... it's--" He sighs, and holds a hand up to silence Keith, pinching the bridge of his nose. The headache is back. He takes another mental and emotional step away from it all. He's mature. He's responsible. He's the adult-est adult of all the humans on board. He needs to suck it up and deal with what is being required of him. "Give me a tick." He’s piloted Blue and Yellow, and Green is waiting for him. What does it really cost him to try with Red. Other than the shattering feeling of rejection because it’s not going to happen. Red is the most prickly of the Lions. Like his former paladin. Red will not open up and let him in.

But-- Keith let Shiro in eventually. Even with all his walls.

It’s a moot point, Lance is Red’s Paladin now.

'But, maybe--,' his brain whispers. “You know, I miss simpler times.” When he was the Black Paladin of the Black Lion. “Before….” He waves his hand in a helpless motion that encompasses everything that has happened since Kerberos. He snorts, maybe it’s too much to expect Keith to interpret such a vague gesture.

“Me too.” Keith nods in agreement, and suddenly, his hand is on Shiro’s shoulder. It is surprisingly comforting.

Wasn’t that supposed to be him though, comforting _his_ paladins and supporting them and being the rock?

Keith looks worried. “I won’t let them gang up on you. If you don’t want to do it, it’s your call, Shiro.”

Being the leader appears to have sucked the tiny amount of joy out of Keith that Shiro remembers trying to nurture, because worry is his default expression now and Shiro finds that he doesn't want to let Keith down. “It’s okay, Keith, I guess I can try. Even if I crash and burn.”

“Please don’t crash the Green Lion.” Always so literal. “Or Red.” Keith gives him a tiny smile. A joke? Not so literal then.

He snorts. When did they get so old? There was an evening at the Garrison not so many years ago, before he and Matt graduated. Him, Matt, and little Keith. Racing each other to the mess in one long sprint down the slippery corridors. Nothing out of bounds. Shoving, tripping, jumping, sliding. Stopping only to salute when an officer had the misfortune to get in the way. “Remember the fourth of July dinner at the Garrison, we were late?”

Keith shares one of his rare smiles, eyes brightening. “I remember kicking your ass, old man.”

“In your dreams, first year,” Shiro says, sprinting down the hall. Blowing off some steam might help diffuse their anxiety about the meeting.

He hears a bellow behind him. “What the fuck, Shiro?”

“You’re so slow!” Shiro laughs, stretches the word to reinforce just how slow Keith is being right now.

Keith catches up quickly, overtaking Shiro with a fierce grin, tripping him but Shiro rolls out of it and shoves Keith into the wall with an equally wide grin. Keith rebounds off and leaps onto Shiro’s back. They almost fall in the doorway of the dining hall but it opens with a dramatic swish. The other paladins are waiting with Coran around the table. It’s looks very formal and completely staged. Somewhat like the Garrison fourth of July celebration dinner.

Everyone looks over at the two wrestling in the doorway with mild shock. They’re all frozen in place.

Lance’s face lights up. “Oh yeah, dogpile!” he screeches and leads a charge at Shiro. Pidge and Hunk follow a tick later. “Come on, Princess! Coran, pay attention, this is Earth culture.”

Shiro peers up at Princess Allura. She stands at the end of the table, a hand is raised to her mouth in surprise. “A little help?” he wheezes, under the weight of four paladins who are relentlessly driving him towards the floor.

Her face pinches in what he now knows as an expression of extreme concentration. It clears. “Like that time on the Altean ship in the rift,” she says, grinning. She runs at them but in her dress, it’s like an Olympic hurdler wearing an evening gown. Extreme concentration is back and it’s terrifying. The mice cling to her shoulders, mouths open in tiny war screams.

This will hurt.

“Crap,” Shiro moans as she leaps to the very top of the pile which he can’t see from his position at the bottom. Coran ambles over slowly, hands behind his back. He looks down at them all curiously. “And how are you feeling now, Number One?”

They break for cake. Shiro hadn’t expected cake at a cuddle pile execution. It’s good cake too, not a hint of goo or living wigglers in it. They sit and eat like the mature-ish young adults, Corans, and mice they are and when the cake is gone, everyone turns to Shiro. He blinks under the scrutiny.

Allura clears her throat. “Shiro….” she begins, her hands are clasped in front of her. She looks poised and regal. “We have been talking about the Lions, you have shown enormous charity piloting when a paladin is unable to but we would like to know how you….”

He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. “Alright.”

She stutters to a stop. “What? Alright?” Allura asks, confused and deflated. She glances at Keith who shrugs. He’s dropped back to what appears to be default leader Keith mode. The human embodiment of a frown.

“Pidge’s research on the Green Lion, then an attempt with the Red Lion. After that, no more.” Shiro sighs.

Pidge looks delighted, Hunk thoughtful.

"I thought you'd say no!" Lance looks at him wildly. He stands, hands on his hips. “Are you insane? You didn’t even want to fly the Green Lion and now you’re going to try Red.” Take my Red goes unspoken but the intent is there.

Shiro shakes his head. “I only need one more and my collection is complete,” he deadpans, his smile comes a little late for everyone's comfort.

“Shiro,” warns Keith, he’s crossed his arms, his mouth is an angry sharp line.

“Sorry-- sorry, Lance, I understand your concern, I really do, but you guys want this, not me. Pidge, Lance, I’ll meet you both later.” Shiro leaves them to it.

  

He loses himself walking the castle for what feels like vargas but stops when he finds himself in the Black Lion’s hangar. Shiro looks up at her. His affection for Black is uncharted. He loves her more than he loves life itself. She gives--  _gave_ him purpose. It's hard to even be near her and not hear her in his mind. He wonders again why he even stays. Oh yeah. Logistical support.

A recognisable face for the coalition.

Mentor.

Sixth wheel in the Voltron machine.

Voltron feels so far apart from him but he is both proud and envious of his protege. Keith’s ability to lead, if left to grow, will surpass his own.

He reaches for Black, his hand moves independently towards her and he snatches it back when he notices. It’s over. He’s already decided. He isn’t sure how he came to be here if he’s honest. There is no recollection of the journey; it ends in his quarters, looking at the armour he's decided he'll never wear again.

Then he is _here_. 

Shiro backs away from her.

Is he losing time now? He searches for Coran and the Altean listens to his concerns, vague as they are. A scan reveals nothing malignant hiding in his head. It’s good to talk though and he finds Coran understands his fears with kind eyes and a gentle pat on the back. They talk quietly for a long time.

When Shiro asks, Coran finds a suit similar to Allura’s old armour. It’s black and grey with subtle lines of more grey and accents that match the ambient lights in the castle. The suit conforms to his body as if it's made for him. With the matching helmet under his arm, he leaves, and finds Pidge with the Green Lion. She sits on a paw, attention on her laptop, working while she waits.

Her paladin armour gleams under the lights. He doesn’t regret his choice. She does a double take when she glances up at him and her mouth opens to say something then slowly closes without uttering a word.

“Ready?” he asks.

“I’ve got this set up so I can monitor how you and Green interact. I adapted Coran’s mind meld technology.” She attaches connections to his helmet and closes the laptop with a snap. “If it works, we’ll try something similar with the Red Lion.” She waves to the Green Lion and leaves.

Green's maw entrance is open and lowered to the ground. Shiro pauses at the base of the ramp, settling the helmet on his head. The visor is fully enclosed and has a smokey tint to the glass. The fit is closer than the paladin helmets though, almost claustrophobic, and he tinkers with the settings until he can hear more than his own rapid breaths.

He sits in the pilot seat and his hands shake on the controls. He lets go for a tick, shaking the tremors off.

Flying the Green Lion is not hard. Shiro is a pilot. Green is a unique and beautiful spaceship. He already has permission and she is curious about him, if Shiro concentrates he can feel Pidge in the connection. He mentions it on comms but she says she doesn’t feel it. “Where to?” he asks.

A star chart appears next to him, a path already mapped out through an asteroid belt in a nearby system. A second screen pops up and Lance reacts badly when he sees Shiro’s new suit. He isn’t happy but, like Pidge, he doesn't verbalise it. “Shiro, you lead the way. We’ll hang back and follow. Pidge doesn’t want to influence the results.” The screen closes abruptly.

‘Don’t wanna make it too easy,’ he thinks and hears Green rumble a soft mischievous laugh that most definitely has echoes of Pidge in it.

Hide and seek the two agree. The Green Lion raises her cloak and they disappear into the asteroid field. The Red Lion searches for them systematically while Shiro and Green Lion hide easily, swooping out to fly past at speed only to disappear again.

Shiro hears Lance squawk in surprise the first time they do it, then he and Pidge giggle over the comm as they play the game. They’re good but Green and Shiro are better. Green flies like a dream and for a few vargas he can almost forget. He notes absently that Lance has improved, he always had raw talent but was easily distracted. Now Lance’s focus is a match to his skill. A fine right hand for Voltron.

Too soon Pidge has enough data to work with and they agree to land on a small planetoid at the edge of the asteroid field. He closes his eyes and rests a hand on the back of the seat, he thanks the Lion and she purrs through their weak connection.

He doesn’t ask Pidge about the data. He knows he can pilot a Lion, it doesn’t make him a paladin.

Lance and Pidge exit the Red Lion and a tick later the shield goes up. A varga later it’s still there and it’s too soon to call it off so Shiro sits down, cross-legged, and stares up at the Lion.

‘Patience yields focus,’ he tells himself before he yawns widely. Keith still believes it.

Maybe he’ll rest his eyes for a few ticks.

 

 _He is no longer on the planet he was left on. He is in a ship, the walls close in around him. He cannot remember how he has come to be here or when he came to be here._ _Panic hums through his skin and bones._ _Zarkon's Coat of Arms, the symbol of the Galran ruling house, are everywhere._

_There will be no escape without his paladin. This is not where he wants to be. It is not where he needs to be._

_Dreams of fire and blood and lightning fill gaps of time._

_He keens for his missing paladin, shutting down to wait._

_Red light bleeds through the darkened room, a small life form walks toward him. “Bingo.” He hears a small voice. “Let’s get out of here,” calls the tiny Galra at his shield. “Open up. It’s me. Keith. Your buddy.”_

_He will not respond._

_“It’s me! Keith, your-- I am your paladin!”_

_This cannot be his paladin. His paladin is Alfor._

_But he cannot feel Alfor._

 

“Shiro!”

He wakes with start. There is a new pain in his neck from his head falling forward in sleep. “Pidge?”

“We’re calling this one a bust. Allura wants us back at the Castle.” She looks disappointed, her expression downcast. “There was something there but it's nothing like what we were seeing with the Green Lion.”

Lance leans over him, eyes narrowing on Shiro’s rapid blinking. “Did you just take a nap?”

Shiro offers him a guilty smile and stretches, holding up a hand which Lance uses to pull him to his feet. He groans. “Maybe. It’s been a long week.”

He catches a ride back with Lance. The dream is still fresh and strange in his mind, he hopes for clarity in the Red Lion but none comes. He’s relieved that Lance is as distracted as he is, piloting in the asteroid field takes concentration so he doesn’t question Shiro’s silence.

The blast hits them without warning and alarms go off in the cockpit. Shiro is flying, bouncing off multiple surfaces, as the Red Lion spins out of control. Lance yells and pulls on the controls to cancel the spin. Shiro drops to the floor and lies winded. He should get up, needs to get up, but something is broken and grates as he moves.

“Lance,” he says, breathing in shallow gulps of air. “Sit rep?”

“One tick,” replies Lance, silencing the alarms, his fingers flying over the screens. He grips the controls and they’re moving again. Red is angry, his tail laser blasts a fighter into atoms even as his maw opens and fires hot death on another.

Green flashes past, firing at a pair of Galra fighters that come out of nowhere and are circling them like vultures. Shiro can see more surrounding them on the screens, closing in. “We’ll have better cover further into the asteroid field. You okay?” Pidge’s face pops up on a screen next to Shiro’s head. He manages to sit against the console, hand to his right side where most of the pain is radiating from.

“I’m fine. Shiro got bounced around the cockpit behind me. You okay, Shiro?” Lance spares him a glance and growls at his pale sweaty face, Red jostles them both, caught in heavy fire as the two Lions dive back into the asteroids. “Nope, he’s not. Shiro’s hurt.”

“Just a cracked rib, two at most,” he gasps at the jagged pain, tries for a smile, fails. “I’m fine.”

Pidge and Lance share a horrified look.

“I already hailed the Castle,” says Lance, giving them a grim smile of his own. “They’ll be here in a few ticks."

“We don’t _have_ a few ticks,” growls Pidge, dodging a chunk of flying rock and then the Galra cruiser behind it. Green’s tail catches the wing of another fighter and flips it into a death spin that ends in a fireball against a larger asteroid.

The Castle looms alongside them, a brace of energy blasts destroying the last of the fighters and trading canon fire with the cruiser. Asteroids shatter against the massive energy shield but it looks like it's a bumpy ride for all of them. Princess Allura appears on the forward screen. “We came as quickly as we could, when you are back on board we will leave the asteroid field and wormhole away.”

“Get Coran to warm up the healing pod again, somebody got himself damaged.” Lance gives Shiro a quick reassuring grin and flies towards the Red Lion’s hangar.

Princess Allura tuts softly. “Really Shiro, you must attempt not to get injured at least one quintant this week, just as a novelty for the rest of us.”

“Yes, Princess.” Shiro closes his eyes.

 

_He is back in a Galra ship, the walls close in around him again. He cannot remember how he has come to be here or when he came to be here. There are symbols of Zarkon everywhere._

_They have him but he cannot feel any of his sisters and brothers, are they still free?_

_This is not where he wants to be. It is not where he needs to be. He reduces power to a minimum, enough for the shield. He must be ready to fight. He drifts, dreaming of fire and lightning. He keens for his paladin._

_Red light bleeds through the darkened cargo hold, a Galra approaches. Strong with quintessence. He feels… something. Sister? Sister Green is close, as is her paladin. A tiny being seen through a Lion’s eyes._

_Others are close now, Sister Blue and Brother Yellow. Each with a new paladin. Red needs no new paladin, Red already has a paladin._

_“Bingo.” He hears a small voice. “Let’s get out of here,” calls the tiny Galra wearing Alfor’s armour. It is at the edge of his energy shield. “Open up. It’s me. Keith. Your buddy.”_

_Red will not respond._

_This cannot be Red’s paladin._

Shiro in the dream swells with fondness for Keith, who is so good and smart and kind but also hotheaded and impulsive in equal measure. Keith who shuts himself off from everyone who might reject him except this one time, with the Red Lion who shuts himself off as well. Shiro never saw this. Keith who doesn’t hesitate to open up and offer himself to the one other being in the universe that might understand and value him in the way he wants to be; needs to be.

‘You’re two of a kind,’ thinks Shiro warmly in Red’s direction. The Lion cannot hear, it's not a two-way conversation yet. Red is showing him this for a reason.

_"It’s me! Keith, your-- I am your paladin!”_

_No. Alfor is his paladin but Red cannot feel Alfor._ _There is simply an absence. A hole that is Alfor’s shape._

_The Galra cub is now outside the ship. In space. In danger. It’s heart is beating very fast. It does not panic though. It is not like the other Galra, this Keith. Perhaps…._

_Perhaps this one_ could _be his paladin until Alfor returns…._

Shiro observes through Red’s eyes, he feels all that Red feels. He feels Red's grief when Keith is chosen by the Black Lion.

 _Perhaps_ this _one could be his paladin until Keith returns…._

Red wants Keith back? Red hopes _…._

_Perhaps this one could be his paladin until Lance returns._

‘Me? But Lance hasn’t left,’ says dream Shiro, in surprise. ‘Lance loves you, he’s not going to leave.’ 

_THEY. ALWAYS. LEAVE._

There is a new presence. It has found a way in through the weak connection between Red and Shiro. They did manage one after all.

 _WHO. ARE. YOU?_ It asks.

Shiro doesn’t know anymore.

_PALADIN…._

He doesn’t know anymore.

_WHOSE. ARE. YOU?_

He doesn’t know any of this anymore.

_ARE. YOU. MINE?_

An unfamiliar Lion roars. It’s not the Red Lion. It’s not part of the dream. It’s not even a memory anymore. Red is still here but so is something else, it pushes against the edge of his mind, getting between Shiro and Red.

Red snarls at the intruder.

Shiro’s confused. The Lions don’t speak, they express themselves but not in words. The paladins interpret their language as words but the conversation is never _exactly_ words. This Lion is louder and stronger and demands so much more. It radiates hunger and need.

Something rends Shiro's mind, slashing at the walls of consciousness, and stares at him through the tears. 

He screams.

  

Shiro lurches awake from the healing pod and falls forward to the floor. His hands move autonomously and catch him at the last possible tick. Eyes closed, behind the lids are the Lions, Voltron, the connections between each of them and their paladins past and present.

Someone is screaming. Oh, that’s just him… no! It's not just him. Everyone is screaming and roaring and everything is pain. He moans, head bent down, his heart pounds as the screams fade. Finally, he opens his eyes. His unpleasant suspicions are confirmed.

There is no Princess, no Coran, no paladins to welcome him.

He’s completely alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long gap between Green and Red. I suck! I've stared at this long enough, if there are any horrible mistakes, please let me know so I can fix them.
> 
> I have a tumblr sideblog for Voltron stuff @crazywordsmustache


	5. Red Lion Redux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Voltron Lion can accept a temporary Paladin should circumstances dictate it. These circumstances are usually matters of life or death. Such temporary assignments aren't undertaken lightly by Lion or Paladin, the depth of the bond formed under dangerous conditions is harder to relinquish afterwards and can leave all involved emotionally compromised.

Shiro lurches awake as the barrier to the cryo-pod vanishes, and he falls towards the floor, landing on his hands at the last possible tick. He looks around but he’s completely alone this time. If he were feeling any more sensitive about the team, he’d be pissed off but all it does is feed his insecurity about his place in the castle and with Voltron.

His head drops and his hair falls into his face, and he scrapes it back into a loose braid that will fall apart inevitably but it’s the least of his problems. He collects his new armour from the bench nearby and changes out of the healing suit. When he prods at his side, the flesh is bruised and tender but there's not outright pain anymore. He’s still tired, on so many levels he’s exhausted, but he’ll catch up on sleep eventually.

He opens the comm and throws the channel wide to the entire castle. “Guys, can I get a sitrep?” It's a not so direct way of asking where they are. No one replies. He gives it a full two doboshes before he repeats his message and leaves for the main deck.

The castle is eerie in it’s silence, not unusual on many floors but on the top few, where the paladins spend most of their time, it’s not normal. The main deck is empty. The space ahead full of stars he doesn’t recognise.

A quick check reveals empty hangars.

He opens comms again. “Guys, this is not... I can take a joke but this is… this is not funny anymore.” It was never funny, at any point.

Screens of Altean blink at him and the translator sluggishly alters the words to Earth English. All systems nominal. He calls up the security vlogs and flicks through them quickly. For longer than a quintant, there hasn’t been another soul on board the castle with him.

He breathes faster as he goes further back, feebs worth of footage spools past and still no princess, paladins, anyone. Not even an Altean mouse scampering across the floor. Each subsequent breath sounds more like a sob.

 

He falls forward into a six way hug. Shiro clings to them like they’ll vanish into smoke if he dares release them. “Don’t let me go, please, don’t  disappear again.”

“We’re never gonna do that,” says Lance, he’s between Hunk and Shiro, squished but happy.

Keith has his chin resting against the crook of Shiro’s neck, he hums agreement. Pidge is beneath his arm, her hands wrapped tightly around Shiro’s waist.

Allura is standing behind him, her arms looped around Shiro and the other paladins, radiating warmth and calm. “All will be well, my paladin.”

He feels like smoke and disappears into darkness.

 

Shiro lurches awake and falls to the floor. He catches himself but it’s close. He doesn’t need to look around to know he’s alone. Rising to kneel, his side gives a twinge under the healing suit, and pressing in, finds it’s still sensitive. He gets to his feet slowly. The dreams in the cryo-pods are often unpleasant for him. This time doubly so. Ominous in their message, he is left unsettled.

Coran’s tablet lies abandoned and hesitating for a tick, Shiro picks it up. It’s been locked down in Altean so that only Coran and the Princess can read it easily. Shiro’s grasp of Altean is improving by the day, he has to find things to do with all the time he has at his disposal now and with so many consoles and screens only displaying in Altean; learning the language of the ship is his new obsession. He is rediscovering patience, something he preached at Keith but fails at himself. The Castle library is quiet though. He finds he can get lost in the stacks, immersing himself in Altean.

Working around Coran’s lock, the files indicates that he was only in the healing pod for a few vargas. Quintessence jumps out among a jumble of words that must be medical jargon and too specialised for his moderate grasp of the written language. His quintessence is out of balance? No, that’s not quite it but the word eludes him; it’s on the tip of his tongue. Poison? That didn’t make sense.

“Great,” he growls. He leaves the tablet where he found it and searches for Altean painkillers and cold swallows a few, choking them down. Scraping his hair back, he ties it in a knot at the back of his head.

His new armor is lying abandoned on a bench. Shiro doesn’t remember getting in the cryo pod this time, nothing after losing consciousness in the Red Lion. It’s getting a bit old if he’s honest. This feeling weak thing. He pulls the armour on and leaves to find someone, anyone, in the Castle.

It’s too quiet without the paladins and Shiro rediscovers how much he hates drifting down hallways where there is no sound except ambient background noise, the soft hum of power that accompanies every waking dobosh in the castle.

It feels like a dream. A dream about a ghost ship. He has a profound sense of deja vu.

He reaches the control deck though he doesn’t recall the journey in any detail. He was there, now he is here. Above the castle, hangs a familiar gas giant and it’s tiny forest moon. Why would they return? He leans on the first console and calls up the last few vargas on the castle feeds. The Lions are all in their bays so he switches to the cryo-pod room where he watches Coran leave shortly after returning Shiro to a healing pod, tracking him through the castle to the library.

Shiro flicks through cameras, speeding up the footage, watching as the paladins visit him in his pod, one at a time as he recovers, then drift away again. He watches as Coran returns and calls them together on the medical deck. They talk and Shiro wishes for nothing more than to know what they are talking about so animatedly. Allura takes the castle through a wormhole, the gas giant looms ahead and Coran leaves in a podship to the forest moon.

The paladins move around the castle; training, working, talking, laughing.

Allura visits him in his cryo-pod and picks up Coran’s tablet, makes a notation then returns it to its place. She stands in front of his pod for a long time before leaving. It’s disconcerting to watch her watch him. Shiro tracks her walk back to the control deck where she stays. It’s now little more than a varga before Shiro wakes up, when something appears on the castle scanners.

It’s hidden in one of the largest hurricanes on the gas giant and it disappears off the scanner just as quickly as it appeared.

She summons the paladins to the deck and they continue to study the phenomenon as it ghosts the scanners. Keith gestures in the direction of medical and the moon but they come to some agreement and leave, all of them at once. Shiro switches to exterior viewers and sees them fly up toward the gas giant, into the hurricane.

There is one last communication from Allura, she and the Blue Lion are buffeted on all sides by the storm. Alarms are going off in the cockpit and the other paladins are screaming over the comms, their faces on the screens beside the princess.

“Coran?” she cries, “Coran, are you there? There is something in the storm, it’s not comet ore as we first believed! Coran? It’s hunting us! It’s faster, faster than the Red Lion.” She turns to one of the screens at her side, just out of view. “Lance? What… Shiro? Shiro. Yes, go, _go_ , get Shi--” The screen goes blank.

He moves to end the feed, finger hovering, when a Lion returns on one of the screens, collapsing onto its side in the Red Lion bay.

 

Shiro overrides the door down to Red’s bay and uses the zipline, then he runs and it hurts, his newly healed ribs ache from the activity but he doesn’t relent.

Red lies still, position unchanged when he arrives, sliding to a stop in front of the jaws. The side hatch is inaccessible. Shiro touches Red’s jaw, panting, his hand is tiny against the vast maw but yellow eyes flicker for a moment and the entrance scrapes open, scarring the floor.

“Lance?” he shouts but the cockpit is silent. “ _Lance_?” He crawls up the maw, traversing the dark interior. Shiro switches his helmet lights on and shines them into every corner. Lance lies across the side console, it’s smashed beneath him, the inertial dampers must have failed. He had to have hit it hard from the damage. “Lance!”

A moan, weak, little more than an exhale with a hitch at the end. Then, “Shiro?” Lance doesn’t move.

“I got you, buddy.” Shiro scans Lance for injuries before moving him, pulling him up off the console and holding him tightly. “Where are the others, Lance? Where’s Keith? Allura?” he asks, Lance doesn’t reply, he’s out again. Shiro considers how he’s going to get Lance out of the Red Lion without hurting him more. Red moves a fraction then a fraction more. Shiro reaches out to steady both himself, one hand on the pilot’s seat, and one around Lance, as the Red Lion rights himself and rises to stand.

Carrying Lance from the cockpit and down the jaw ramp, Shiro glances back at Red and sees the protective barrier go up around the Lion.

He wishes that Coran was not on the moon, that the Altean was here and helping him place Lance in one of the healing suits ready to go into a cryo-pod. Every so often Lance moans and his eyes move rapidly under the lids like he’s dreaming but he doesn’t wake up.

Shiro talks to him. Inconsequential things. Things Lance likes talking about. Shiro hopes Lance will rouse before he goes into the pod, tell him what happened to the others. He doesn't.

But maybe the Red Lion will.

 

Or it won’t. Red remains stubbornly behind the shield, eyes dark, unmoving.

 

He has choices, there are always choices. Take a pod, leave the castle unguarded. It stood for ten thousand years untouched. He isn’t sure a pod will stand up to the hurricane. The Red Lion is barely powered up. That’s the backup plan. When everything else fails.

Or he can take the castle. He wavers. Not right into the storm but closer. Then he'll work out a next step. He’s going to pilot the Castle of Lions.

“Okay, you can do this,” he says, not at all confident. There’s never been a time he’s had to move the entire castle by himself without Coran or the Princess but he’s watched them fly it numerous times. He’s a pilot. He’s flown multiple alien ships on a wing and prayer. This won’t be any different.

He wishes he’d paid closer attention but there was never a time he allowed himself to think that Allura or Coran wouldn't be here to do this. Powering up the engines, he raises the particle barrier and feels the Castle respond.

On the view screen, the gas giant waits. Inside the storms, everyone he loves.

The surface of the planet ripples and the Yellow Lion fights free and spins away, out of control. Shiro directs the Castle on an intercept course.

He can see that the Lion is powered down and is directionally pointing back into the storm. It doesn’t appear to have sustained damage but a scan indicates a catastrophic loss of quintessence. Shiro worries for Hunk and repeated unanswered hails bring no relief to his rising anxiety. If Lance is here in a pod, and now Hunk floating out there, then where are the other Lions, the other paladins?

“I need to get to the Yellow Lion but I can’t leave the Castle.”

A tiny squeak draws his eye down to Allura’s mouse friends. Coran willd kill him if anything went wrong but given how the day was panning out, that appears to be the least of Shiro’s worries. “Keep an eye on things for me?” he asks.

He gets four small perfectly executed salutes for his request.

Damn. He kind of loves those mice.  

The painkillers are wearing off, the pain returning as a dull ache. On any other day, walking the castle is simple, today it’s a marathon to get a spare helmet on the way to the pod hangar.

 

The Yellow Lion floats on his side, limbs askew, powered down. The jaw entrance is out of commission and the top hatch would be difficult to get two people out of. He has to trust that Hunk’s helmet sealed when everything failed because there’s no life support and any heat will have leeched from the interior by now. Shiro leaves his pod and jets across to the Lion; he tries the side hatch first. It’s a struggle, the door refuses to give even a bit.

How did Keith get the Black Lion to move when Shiro was about to become a lizard pack’s dinner?

“Yellow, I’m assuming that Hunk needs help, can you open the door so I can check him?” There is a noise, a low pitched whine that vibrates through his bones and has Shiro covering the sides of his helmet but it’s everywhere and everything about it is pain-- the Yellow Lion is in pain, something Shiro hasn’t even considered possible until Red. The door opens a crack though, then a few more inches every dobosh until Shiro can squeeze through the gap. The interior is sideways and he manoeuvres the space carefully because he can’t see anything, even with the helmet lights. “Hunk?”

A whisper of breath, not quite a moan, more an exhalation. He’s hearing it through the helmet comm. It leads him further into the cockpit where Hunk hangs sideways in his seat, resting heavily on one of the controls, the stick pressing into his ribs. Shiro pulls up the medical screen on his gauntlet and scans Hunk, placing a hand on the youth’s shoulder. “I’m here, Hunk.” He feels Hunk shudder and release a wheezy sob . He’s lost a lot of quintessence, like his Lion. Just like the fight with Haggar and Zarkon. Shiro focuses on what he can do. Fractured ribs from impacting the controls, bruising inside and out but no internal bleeding, no head injuries. Small favours. Shiro is grateful.

“Okay, buddy, time to get you and Yellow back to the Castle. Get you into a healing pod.” He slides his Galra arm under Hunk and eases him out of the seat, holding him against his body tightly. Getting back out of the Lion is harder than getting in but Shiro thanks Yellow on the way out the door. He wants to do more for the suffering Lion. “I’ll be back. I promise.”

It takes time though, to get Hunk into the pod safely, to get him from the pod hanger to the medical bay, out of his armour, into a healing suit, and into the cryo-pod next to Lance. He wants to stop, the burning in his side needs him to stop, but there’s no time to rest.

Shiro returns to the stricken Lion and tows him inelegantly into Yellow’s hangar where the Lion collapses in a heap, a larger twin to the Red Lion.

Returning to the control deck he scans the planet for the other paladins. 

It's now or never, none of the pods would stand up the storms on the planet, he's scanned them. The pods would be torn apart in ticks. He can pilot the castle but not while the hurricane rages around it, Allura wouldn't forgive him if he broke it. That and it’ll be like searching for three needles in a planet sized haystack.

Patience wearing thin, when no further Lions appear he returns to the Red Lion’s hangar. He needs to connect to the Red Lion, enough to find out what happened.

Red towers over him, he's not at tall as the Black Lion but is still an intimidating presence. He kneels in front of the Lion, palms down, on his thighs. He closes his eyes and searches for the tiny thread of contact they had before.

“Patience yields focus,” he whispers, thinking of Keith, Allura, and Pidge. Still out there in the storms. They’re alive, he’s sure he would know if they weren’t. He breathes out, long until it catches his healing ribs, then in again.

_Perhaps this one can be his paladin until Lance returns._

Shiro gasps and opens his eyes.

The shield vanishes and the Red Lion looks down at him, eyes bright. The jaw entrance opens. There is no time for nerves or fear. The cockpit is dark when he climbs the ramp and Shiro puts his helmet on, the lights shining into all corners of the space. The damage appears minimal, the Lion is self-repairing quickly. There is blood drying in long drips down the console he found Lance collapsed against.

He places a hand on the back of the pilot’s seat. “No pressure, Red, let me know what I can do to help.” The Lion is silent. Patience. Patience. He repeats it in his head, over and over until he’s murmuring it under his breath. He sits, very slowly, easing into the seat. He didn’t feel this nervous with the other Lions. A single light blinks on the console to his right. He reaches out with his Galra hand and touches it.

Agony is swiftly followed by unconsciousness.

Shiro's chest is tight when he blinks his eyes back open. He checks but he was only a out a couple of doboshes. He feels reduced but isn’t sure how. The cockpit is alive around him, the Lion has almost full power and appears in control. It’s warm, overly so. Shiro straightens in the seat. “You feeling better?” He supposes that Red just needed a jump start of quintessence. A blood sacrifice. His arm aches a little from it though.

There is a rumble. Is that a yes?

“Can you show me what happened?” Shiro 

Red shows him but first the Lion passes on a message.

It’s not bonding by any paladin’s definition. It’s absolutely not like when Black took him to Daibazaal and then saved him from Zarkon. It’s not the soothing balm of Blue, the quiet strength of Yellow, or the bright curiosity of Green. Shiro’s hands claw and his body curls inwards as he weathers a firestorm of emotion from Red. He swallows down his nausea and rides it out.

When Lance said the Lion’s weren’t happy, it was an understatement.

There will be consequences. The Lions are not just objects to be passed around.

Eventually Shiro can breath easily again and finds himself seeing through the Red Lion’s eyes, they're keeping pace with the Black Lion through space, down into the eye of the hurricane. It’s here that Keith makes a decision. In his defence, because Shiro _will_ defend Keith to his dying breath, he is backed by the other paladins. There is something ahead on the scanners, it’s just beyond the eye, moving in and out of contact, where the winds are the worst. Whatever it is, it’s giving off the same resonance as the comet ore that the Lions were created from. Black, Blue, Green, and Yellow will enter the edge, Red will hold in the eye, back up if they need it and Lance will transmit information back to the Castle.

They argue of course, Lance is against Allura going into the hurricane. His reasoning is solid. She's the last of the Altean royal bloodline, she alone powers the castle, she is the face of the coalition against the Galra Empire. She overrules him. 

It’s reckless but Shiro can’t hold it against any of them. The stakes are high in this war. Allura knows how high, they all know. Every advantage against Zarkon is to be explored and exploited. In similar circumstances, he would have made similar choices, for better or worse. Comet ore was too precious to leave uncollected, he’s learned all about comet ore from reading the reports of the spatial anomaly to an alternate universe. He still has to wrap his head around that one. Worse, the ore could be collected by Lotor.

Red rumbles agreement.

In the hurricane, the Lions are nervous. They feel something and Black more than the others-- when her paladin vanished from his seat.

It’s familiar to Shiro, he lives with it all the time, balancing its darkness with hope. “Fear. You were feeling fear.”

The Black Lion is first through the wall of the eye, disappearing from sight. Then Blue, Green, and last, Yellow. The reports come back immediately, paladins yelling, alarms blaring. Whatever it is, its siphoning off their quintessence faster than they can escape. Red moves in. The winds scream and howl, and pick at every jutting surface of the Lion.

Blue whips past, eyes flickering brokenly, almost dead on the screen. Then Green and Yellow. Black is roaring through the connection and Shiro’s blood runs cold. Black goes dark fast, holding on until the last second. Shiro's beautiful, beloved Lion flies past, eyes dead, lights off.

Shiro makes a noise, half sob, half moan.

Then Red sees it.

It’s coming, letting the winds carry it in close. Already, the Red Lion feels systems begin to fail as it is drained of quintessence. The Lion echoes Lance’s terror, a familiar oily feeling that churns. Together they decide to flee, Lance sends a message to Allura. He’s going to get Shiro. Shiro will know what to do. He has to. Allura’s comm cuts out during the message.

“Is it a new robeast?” Shiro _doesn’t_ know what to do if its a robeast. He can’t form Voltron with two Lions-- one currently inactive, the other terrified. Shiro isn’t sure he wants to meet anything that can make a Voltron Lion feel fear but he has no choice. The Lion whines and the cockpit vibrates. Shiro get’s the feeling that whatever it is, it’s older, and more frightening, that any creature Haggar can create. An energy vampire of some sort. The paladins are on borrowed time.

“I have to get them,” he says, running his hand across the Red Lion’s forward console. “We have to get them back.” The Lion is silent beneath him then whines. He records a message for Coran, Lance, and Hunk before he leaves, outlining his plan, and for Coran, what has happened and why there are two paladins in the cryo-pods. When they wake or the Altean returns, they’ll know he’s gone to the gas giant.

They’ll know that he intends to save the other paladins or die trying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at you, sticking with me this long. Gosh you guys are great. *hugs* Hit me up at my tumblr @crazywordsmustache. It's officially on hiatus but I'll still answer any asks/messages.
> 
> You haven't imagined it, I increased the chapter count by one because this was a monster chapter and the second part of it is being rebellious in proofing which has been holding up posting, so I broke it in half so you could have some now.
> 
> *blindly clicks Post*


	6. King's Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The results of Honerva's alchemic investigation into the rift and quintessence are staggering in their implications. A substance with so many potential uses but ready access can only be acquired if we set aside any ethical considerations about destroying entire worlds to mine it in its purest form. Zarkon and I find ourselves at a cross-roads in our friendship, he can only see expansion of the empire and I can only see death."--attributed to the Prince Regent, Alfor of Altea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title will be changed when chapter seven is posted. :>

It's almost laughable but the Red Lion is grumpy at him for not wearing a paladin's uniform. It doesn't even matter what colour, Lance wears blue after all. Shiro piloted the Green Lion without a peep about what he wore but Red, for a giant mechanical lion that doesn't speak or form actual words, he won't shut up about it. Who knew a Lion could be such a stickler for custom and practice.

Almost immediately after launch, Shiro can see why the Red Lion is a perfect fit for Keith, flying fast and loose, so much of their connection is going on instinct, he barely has his fingers on the controls and the Lion moves. They're heading out fast towards the super gas giant, it has a name he discovers; on the star charts it's Nhuzid and the moon is Othara. Allura mentioned it when they first visited the moon, it's been around since before Altea fell, but everything since that night has been a churning minefield in his head so he's forgotten that until now.

They fly towards the last recorded position of the other paladins and Shiro gives over control to Red, the Lion already knows where to go. Comms is wide open, both forwards to the planet and the paladins, and backwards at the castle. Lance and Hunk will emerge from the cryo-pods sometime in the next varga, neither are seriously injured and other than minor fractures and scratches, the worst they've withstood is losing almost all of their quintessence.

Which worries him; Coran's open medical file noted an imbalance in Shiro's quintessence, with notable surges and lulls. If he surges, it could draw the quintessence vampire closer to him and maybe he can lead it away from the other paladins to give them, and the Lions, a chance to recover. How much can he afford to lose before he's rendered useless in the rescue.

The planet looms to fill the view screen, the specific storm the paladins vanished into, hangs like an evil eye in the lower hemisphere. Nhuzid looks a little like Jupiter if that planet had been three times the size and varying shades of soft blue and green. From space, it looks calm, almost peaceful. The Red Lion doesn't hesitate and enters the barely visible eye at the centre of the hurricane. As they go deeper, lowering vertically, Shiro begins scanning the wall surrounding for anything, paladins or enemy force. The readings are glitchy with wind speeds close to four hundred miles an hour, or the Altean equivalent, interfering with the sensors.

It's not the kind of weather he wants to get caught out in, it's going to be bad, but Shiro feels prepared for it. Red raises his particle barrier, what good it will do is another thing. "Lance, Hunk, we're heading in to get them now, we'll see you soon." It's foolishly optimistic but he doesn't regret sending them a message of hope and not disaster if these are to be his last words.

They breach the wall of the hurricane and the winds scream, skittering along the edges of the shield, ice shatters, and lightning flashes blinding sensors for long ticks. He feels what his Lion feels through the temporary bond-- to Red it's claws scraping along his hull. The Lion is twitchy, the power spiking only to black out completely several times over a few doboshes, leaving Shiro sweating in the dark. Alarms are already going off and then something blinks past the screen. On the sensors it presents as large, metal-- it can only be a Lion. "We can do this, buddy, just follow the plan," he says out loud, for Red, and for himself. There is no quintessence loss yet and he feels starlight but it's moving away. "Black!"

Something ghosts the sensors, further out, heading towards them fast. Red moves as soon as Shiro's fingers touch the controls and they punch through the winds and get into the path of--

Green! Pidge and her beloved Lion.

The Red Lion releases his particle barrier long enough to latch on with his front claws, gripping the shield on the Green Lion's back, pulling them together, fighting free of the violent winds that threaten to tear them apart again, and back out into the eye.

"Pidge!" The comms between Lions is full of static, and for Shiro, there's little time to waste. He needs to get over there to Voltron's smallest paladin. "I'm going over, Red."

The Red Lion lowers his jaw and Shiro's already shrugged into a harness, clipping his safety line to a winch unit he prepped on the flight from the castle, clipping a second line on for Pidge. He steps down the ramp, it's breezy and the lines flap around behind him, trying to tangle in everything. With some difficulty, he makes it to the top hatch on the Green Lion.

The interior is in much the same condition that he found Red and Yellow, but Pidge is on the floor, curled in on herself. "Pidge?" He leans down and scans her for injuries, finding mostly bruising and she's bitten into her lower lip, smearing blood around her mouth and in long drips on the interior of her closed visor. Like Lance and Hunk, she's not functioning with so little quintessence. He puts a harness on her and lifts her carefully in his arms, carrying her back to the hatch. Shiro unclips the second line, attaching it to Pidge's harness. She opens her eyes a crack and manages a weak smile at him.

"You came," she rasps, her fingers curl around his for a moment.

A throwaway reply catches in his throat as the reality of how close all of the paladins have come to death hits him. "Of course, Shirogane Takashi at your service, Miss Holt." She scoffs softly at the name and he squeezes her hand gently. "Is the harness uncomfortable anywhere, Pidge?" She shakes her head and he sends her up through the hatch, back to the Red Lion.  When she is safely on board, he turns and assesses the Green Lion. "Hey girl," he runs a hand along her consoles, they're intact and respond weakly to his touch, a lick of vine and fragrant leaves trickle through his mind. "We're gonna get you home now."

He sets up the tow cable and Red hauls Green back to the Castle while Shiro holds Pidge in his arms, sharing his warmth and touch. She drains the fluid pack he took from the rescue kit, clutching it in shaking hands. She's responding slowly, shivering and mumbling about what they ran into, trying to give him intel between quick breaths. He listens, filing it for the next run. Luck was on his side for the first rescue, hearing what she has to say... he's not convinced it'll last.

Shiro carries her out of the Lion, intending to deliver her to the infirmary but Lance is up and moving around, bruises livid on his wan face; his visit to the cryo-pod hasn't been long enough to heal everything. He meets them in the Green Lion's hangar, taking Pidge so that Shiro can unhook Green, ready for the return trip.

"Any sign of Allura or Keith," asks Lance, his eyelids are dragging down while his energy levels still appear low. He needs sleep but, like Shiro, he's fighting it off until everyone is safe. His gaze travels to his Lion, waiting for Shiro to return. "Don't let it get Red again, Shiro. It hurt him bad the first time."

"Not gonna happen, Lance." He places a hand on his friend's shoulder and gives him a steady, and he hopes, reassuring smile before turning away to return the Red Lion. "It's going to be okay. Keep trying to contact Coran, we need him back here. How much longer until Hunk comes out of healing?" Shiro heads back up the jaw entrance, Red is ready to go, more than ready. He can sense the Lion's concern for his former paladin.

"Another quarter of a varga maybe?" Lance readjusts Pidge onto her feet under his arm, and both of hers circle around his waist and she leans into him. "When he's out of the cryo-pod, we'll try and come help. Depends on which Lion is back on its feet by then, probably not gonna be Greeny though." The Green Lion is lying on her side and Yellow has only moved incrementally to sit sphinx-like but is not at full power yet.

"Are the mice still in charge of the bridge? They might need to be relieved," says Shiro with a wave as the ramp closes. He sits quickly, and sees Lance's eyes widen when the words register. He huffs a quick laugh as Lance drags Pidge out of the hangar in a fast trot.

"I can't believe you left the mice to run the castle!" he screeches behind him.

Shiro spends the time between the castle and Nhuzid monitoring the sensor again. He's already reset the winch and checked both harnesses for any signs of damage. They reduce speed heading back into the eye of the storm. Red doesn't hesitate this time, raising the particle barrier as they charge through the wall and pass into hell again. Jagged lightning traces wild lines across the barrier. The cockpit shudders and rattles alarmingly but holds together. "Keith, Princess Allura, this is Shiro. Can you hear me? Signal your position if you can." He hails them over the comm, there's no response but the sensors show multiple large objects relative to the Red Lion so they move deeper into the storm, towards the closest.

The winds howl so loudly, he can hear it over everything else. Shiro watches the particle barrier weaken with each lightning strike, it wasn't this bad on the first run and he wants to give more strength to Red, if he knew how he would do it in a heartbeat. The barrier strengthens and he feels a purr rumble through the Lion. Shiro isn't feeling any weaker, did he share quintessence or was it coincidental? Something big bounces off the barrier and they follow it, not so much finding the Blue Lion as hitting it head on.

Shiro grits his teeth, "Grab it!"

Red drops the barrier and flips under and his claws drag along the exterior hull of Blue as the winds try to force the Lions apart again. The particle barrier goes up around both Lions again as Shiro pushes hard on the controls, and they roll back towards the eye, dragging Blue with them. It's slow going and they have to angle into the wind, moving with it like they're caught in a riptide.

Sensors light up like a Christmas tree as they reach the wall, something is behind them, coming up fast.

Shiro feels a shudder run through the Red Lion, recognition racing through their connection. They need to get out here, away from it. Red's claws crunch through the Blue Lion's frame as he tightens his grip and they are out, through the wall of the hurricane and straight up, away from-- Shiro hears something growl through the paladin connection. Is it Black?

"Princess?" he tries the comm again, and again, there is no response to his hail.

They hit the Blue Lion's hangar faster than Shiro would like, but Red is running the show and releases his sister to fall heavily to the floor on her back. They land next to the fallen Lion. Shiro runs from the Red Lion and forces the side hatch violently to enter the cockpit, all the time apologising to Blue for harming her further. The Lion remains unresponsive and when Shiro gets inside, he finds Allura, curled in on herself, on the ceiling of the cockpit which has become the floor; she is conscious, barely. She reaches for Shiro as he pushes past damaged consoles and and tangles of alien electronics and wire. Pulling off his helmet, he kneels beside her and takes her hand. "Allura!"

"Shiro… Shiro, I knew... you were close," she breathes raggedly, her fingers tracing the edge of his face as he activates the scanner in his gauntlet. Like the others, when he scans her for injuries, she has multiple fractures and bruising from being tossed around the cockpit when the inertia dampers failed with the power.

The loss of quintessence has been far worse for her, he suspects, than the other paladins. "Allura," he begins but her fingers press against his mouth to silence him.

"I could feel you... so strong… it's dangerous...." She coughs and bends in half with the pain. When she looks up again, there is blood on her lips. "Shiro... if I could sense... your presence... then it has also." He nods and she quiets for a tick. "It will come for you... like it came for me. I don't-- don't go…." Tears shimmer in her eyes.

"Keith is still missing," he says gently and she nods, blinking away the request.

He lifts her in his arms, holding her tightly to his body so he doesn't hurt her any further, and he uses the jetpack to lower them carefully to the ground. Lance and Pidge wait below, Lance is back in his uniform and Pidge hasn't changed out of hers, they both look like they've had better days. Allura rasps their names in relief and they grasp her hands awkwardly, walking beside Shiro as he carries her to the infirmary.

None of them have seen Allura like this since the Galra crystal poisoned the castle and her father's memory crystal was lost; but even then, she wasn't physically injured-- it's a sobering experience. The strongest of them, the toughest, fastest... she might as well have been invulnerable as far as the younger paladins have been concerned.

Hunk is waiting with a healing suit and a cryo-pod ready to go, his own healing suit is open to the waist in what appears to be an attempt to remove it alone, Shiro sympathises, it's not easy. "Shiro.…" he says, his eyes wide and liquid as he takes in Allura's condition. "Is she…."

"She's going to be okay, Hunk." He lowers Allura to a floating stretcher that Lance retrieves and they begin to ready her for the pod. He observes that they work so well as a team, getting the princess out of her armor into the suit as carefully as they can. They take turns talking to her through the pain. When she is at rest in the pod, Shiro turns to the paladins. " _Anything_ from Coran?"

"Nothing! We got through okay when the princess was poisoned, I'm not sure why we can't reach him but I have to think it's on his end." Hunk rubs his chin thoughtfully. "It's possible whatever attacked us can interfere with normal communications. Maybe one of us should fly down and get him?"

They take a tick to catch their collective breath and consider it, no one has words for a while.

"After we have Keith and the Black Lion," says Shiro eventually, he runs a shaky hand through his hair, which is stiff with dried sweat. "We don't know why he's gone silent."

"Could be the Galra too," Lance pipes in, hands on his hips, a mischievous smile on his face, "not that the _mice_ saw any Galra activity while they were in charge of the bridge." He draws out the last part and Shiro snorts a laugh as Pidge and Hunk gasp in horror.

Platt climbs his spacesuit to sit on Shiro's shoulder, squeaking in his ear. "I know, buddy. Hey, I had no choice and the mice are perfectly capable of monitoring the castle, I think they stepped up to the challenge admirably. We all agree, Allura would make allowances in the situation." He hesitates for a tick then adds, "Maybe don't tell Coran though… ever."

Pidge looks at him with a weak smirk, like she is storing the information for future bribery.

Hunk dresses in his paladin armor in the lift down to the Lion hangars level. He moves slowly, his strength half of normal; they're all sleepwalking. Pidge is actually asleep, her arms back around Lance's waist to stay upright but even he is canting to the right.

Shiro leans against the wall of the lift, closing his eyes.

"When did you last eat, Shiro, or drink anything?" asks Hunk abruptly, dragging Shiro back from the edge of sleep. Hunk pulls the chest piece over his head, a small gasp escaping as his hand finds the barely healed injury, his eyes squeezing closed.

"I-I can't remember," he confesses, was it so long ago as the candy Hunk gave him, how many days ago was that?

Hunk growls. "Have you got anything stored on the Black Lion that you can snack--" Hunk doesn't catch it in time, Shiro knows the colour slips out by accident. They're all so damned tired, and Lance and Pidge have frozen, staring at Hunk in horror, or the floor, the ceiling, anywhere but at Shiro who smiles gently at Hunk, drawing the younger man into a hug.

"It's okay," he whispers to Hunk, who is visibly trying to hold back tears. That's what this exhaustion has done to them all. Left them walking a thin line to collapse. "I haven't, I don't really need emergency snacks like I used too."

Lance and Pidge wriggle under Shiro and Hunk's arms, fingers grasping the softer parts of their uniforms as they tighten into the hug.

"It's okay, guys, really." Shiro doesn't know who he's convincing though. They drift back out of it and lean against each other and the walls of the lift again.

"Did you see the damage to the Blue Lion, not what Red did to save her but from before, when we were attacked," asks Lance, he's radiating worry and his lower lip wobbles a little. "It's like she was mauled."

Shiro did notice, when he was freeing the princess. "Pidge, you said whatever it is, it’s small and fast?"

"Did I say small? Relatively, the size of school bus maybe? Smaller than Red or Green but big enough to hurt when it hit us." Pidge nodded sharply, her mouth turning down. "It was a blitz attack we didn’t see coming, it totally succeeded in splitting us all up, dividing any defence we might've attempted. The initial attack damaged so many critical systems in Green, we were paralysed, I guess so it could return to finish us off later." She shuddered. "I could hear it in the connection. It sounds hungry."

Hunk and Lance nod, shivering.

It's all sounding too familiar to Shiro. "Is it alive? Is it something we just haven't seen before? Can you describe it?"

They shake their heads and Lance answers for all of them. "It was so fast, Shiro, faster than Red even. And hard. Really hard, it hurt Red when it hit him but I can't tell you anything about it what it looks like."

The lift door opens and they file out slowly.

"Keith and the Black Lion, did you see them at all?" asks Lance, he fumbles his helmet back on, Pidge and Hunk follow his lead. "It went after them first, before Allura."

To Shiro, it makes sense. They're not only the largest Lion but the one that requires the most quintessence-- irresistible to an energy vampire. They've been out there at the mercy of their attacker for too long, it's all Shiro is thinking about. He shakes his head. "No, but whatever took you down is still waiting for us. Is the Yellow Lion ready to go?" He hopes that at least one other Lion is restored enough to follow Red back to the planet. "Lance I need you to fly Red this time. I might need to transfer over to the Black Lion, and try and jump-start her."

He takes a few ticks to retrieve his helmet from inside Blue Lion. He lingers, running his fingers along the upside-down walls, feeling for that which is her quintessence. She responds with a tiny wash across his mind, like wetting his toes at the edge of an ocean when the tide is receding. It's enough though, Blue will recover like the others have. Shiro worries about Black, out there the longest, potentially losing the most quintessence to something that drains them as easily as it defeats them in battle-- but that was when they were unprepared, now they have a new pair of eyes and experience to dun defence and attack. Surely that has to count for something right?

Shiro runs up the jaw entry to the Red Lion as it closes, and finds a second seat installed, not just for Shiro but Keith when he is safe. "Why didn't we install a second seat when we took Green out for the test run?" he muses out loud. It would've saved him vargas in the cryo-pods.

"Uh, good question, would've saved you a few vargas in the cryo-pods," says Lance, who turns to look at him. "What?"

"Nothing," replies Shiro, eyes wide, he smooths his face back to neutral, it's coincidence, nothing more. His mouth is dry though, he wishes he'd thought to bring something to drink.

"Damn, I'm so thirsty, should've got something to drink on the way down," mutters Lance, Hunk and Pidge sympathise over the comm. "Shiro, can you check the lockers, maybe Coran or Keith stashed some pouches back there…. Shiro? Seriously, you're weirding me out. What's that face for?"

Once can be a coincidence but twice? He imagines the taste of pineapple on pizza, a very specific thing that he enjoyed back on Earth. So many times, he had an entire pie to himself because of it. He let's the saliva build in his mouth.

 _"Guys, I just had the insanest craving for pineapple on pizza. I hate pineapple on pizza, I hate pineapple full stop. It's slimy and gross,"_ says Hunk on the side screen, his tongue is sticking out and he looks close to throwing up. _"And you know me, I love everything. Except pineapple."_

"That's… that's weird," says Lance, a wrinkle appearing between his brows, "I was thinking about pineapple too. Is it weird that we're all thinking about pineapple? Shiro, Pidge, anything to add about pineapples?"

 _"Yeah, I was thinking about it too, and for the record, I don't eat it because pineapple starts revenge eating you the second you put it in your mouth so why would you!"_ Pidge is leaning over Hunk's shoulder and she looks like she's going to say a lot more on the subject but Shiro calls a time out.

They're about two doboshes out from Nhuzid and they're stuck on the Shiro channel, all Shiro, all the time. "Guys, I think that I'm bleeding into the connection. I'll try and put a lid on it, it's distracting for all of us. Anything on sensors yet?"

"Nothing," says Lance, his eyes don’t leave the sensors as they approach to the planet.

 _"Hold up, new question. When did taste become a shared experience through the paladin connection?"_ asks Pidge, she sounds thoughtful. _"I mean, it is_ new _right? I don't know how useful it is but… can we expect other sensory input to follow?"_

Shiro sighs. "We'll explore it later, Pidge, when we have time and relative safely."

She's silent for a tick and he suspects she's thinking about calling him on his bullshit. _"Promise?"_ The connection is heavy with anxiety and fear, it stems from the other paladins but also the Lions. It's concern for Keith, for the Black Lion, the future of Voltron, and the universe-- and him.

The hurricane fills the screen ahead, there’s so little time.

"I promise," he lies, it rolls off his tongue too easily. They have to feel it, they're feeling everything he feels. "Black is too big for Red to bring out alone, we'll lock the Lions and go in together. Let's not make this easy for whatever is waiting."

Red and Yellow turn and lock claws, bellies scraping close, tails twining. They hit the eye like a missile, skipping across the surface and through the wall into the storm.

'Yellow Lion raise particle barrier,' thinks Shiro and a yellow barrier rises around the two Lions. He senses Hunk's confusion and sends reassurance back.

 _"That was you?"_ asks Hunk over comms, he's got a thoughtful expression on his face.

Shiro hums an affirmative. "Eyes on sensors, guys, let's find them."

They sink deeper into the storm, far beyond where Shiro found Green and Blue. Something rolls past them, brushing so close that Shiro can reach out and almost touch it. Like the other Lions, it's without power and helpless but it radiates rolling light and inconsolable fury. They pursue but it's not as simple as when Shiro and Red caught Green or ran into Blue, it's on a course heading away from them, dragged by winds anything they've experienced in their lives.

"Just like the storms back home but on some major steroids, the weather shields would take the worst of it but we always had to hole up and ride it out.... That might work, we just need to ride the same slipstream," murmurs Lance, his calm soothes the others through the connection. Shiro pats his shoulder and gets a flash of teeth in return. "We've almost got them."

Finding the same winds are not so easy, it's chaotic and the Lions shudder and shake like they'll break apart. "Anything on sensors, Black Lion or otherwise?"

 _"I've still got them, they're right in front of us, we should be able to see them soon-- ah, there,"_ says Pidge. He can't see her because the screen statics and disappears as the power cuts out, and the Red Lion bucks against the storm, jolting the Yellow Lion. It's pushing the inertial dampers to breaking point again and they judder in their seats.

Ahead, the Black Lion reappears, rolling in a spiral that will be doing nothing good for Keith. "Lance, Hunk, get us as close to parallel as you can, we might only get one shot at this, I'm counting on you. We need both Lions to get their claws in tight enough to hold on as we try to back out of the storm so prepare to disengage fast. When we get into the eye, I'll cross over and extract Keith while you guys get the magnetic grapples set up to tow the Black Lion back to the castle. You with me?"

"On it."

_"You got it, Shiro."_

_"Sure, that's assuming whatever hit us the first time around doesn't reappear."_ Pidge is correct but they need to focus. They'll deal with it if it happens.

"Granted," replies Shiro. "Get in position." They can do this, Shiro feels confident they can, and neither pilot dissuades him from that as they approach the Black Lion from behind and fall into as much of a parallel course as they can. It's like trying to thread a needle on a roller coaster. He gasps when the two Lions disengage and claw along the outer hull of Black, trying to find purchase. The enormous tail whips across the Red Lion's face, cracking both eyes, and the cockpit snaps sideways. "Lance, helmet!" His own is secure but Lance has both hands on the controls, knuckles white from the pressure he's applying to keep them on course. Shiro reaches around to seal Lance’s helmet, patting the top when it shuts tight.

"Maybe you guys should do the same," Lance growls at Pidge and Hunk.

 _"Already done,"_ replies Pidge and it's disconcerting not seeing them because the screens, consoles, and interior lights are flickering on and off as the Red Lion's power is rerouted to dig his claws deeper into Black's left shoulder.

 _"Whoa, we're seeing significant power loss over here,"_ shouts Hunk abruptly.

"Same here."

"Are we still good to go?" asks Shiro, grabbing Lance's shoulder when he doesn't reply. He feels a drain on his own strength and assumes that Red is drawing on his quintessence to bolster the Lion's own.

"Yeah, yeah, we're good. Hunk?" Lance let's out an explosive breath.

 _"He's busy. Let's blow this popsicle stand!"_ says Pidge, she's panting. _"We've got the right side, it should be enough to get us to the eye."_

"Great! Where's that? Shiro, can you turn the alarm off on the stabilizers?" Lance is using everything he has to keep the Red Lion attached to Black. The Black Lion is still slowly rotating and they're being dragged along. It puts strain on Red and Yellow's grip and the stabilizers are groaning. Shiro reaches towards the panel where a light blinks at them relentlessly.

 _"Shiro, we're losing everything, where do we get out?"_ Hunk is beginning to sound panicky and Pidge is cursing over the comm.

"I-- I don't know," says Shiro, he takes a breath and rejoins the paladin connection, there he feels Yellow and Red, Black barely, but Green is still on the castle with Blue and the castle is above the eye. He follows the soft smell of freshly cut grass, of rain forests, and growing things. "There," he points but he is already commanding both Lions in the same direction and feels them turn immediately out of the storm. It takes a long few doboshes but they break free of the storm to hang in the centre of the hurricane.

Coran chooses that moment to contact them from the moon. His face appearing in the flickering screen until it vanishes and audio is all they have. _"Shiro! Shiro, are you there?"_

Shiro is securing his safety line ready to move over to the Black Lion and looks up at Lance, who stands next to him. Shiro clips the second line to Lance. "If I'm not back in a five doboshes, come and get Keith. Red jerks and Shiro slips to fall off the end of the ramp. He fires the jetpack and makes it to the top hatch, but not before he glimpses something beneath Black's belly, shimmering and vanishing before his eyes. "Guys, run the sensors again, I just-- I think I saw something. It might be our ghost, vampire, _whatever_... we can't let it get back to the castle if it is." If it is the ghost, why isn't it attacking again, why is it sticking to Black? Shiro shudders, maybe it's still feeding.

He has to cut the hatch when it refuses to budge and finds the interior of the Black Lion in chaos, cargo lockers are open and their contents are strewn across the cockpit, bumping into him as he pushes them out of the way. There's no gravity, the power loss is complete and total. Keith hangs in the air, unmoving, limbs askew, the pilot's seat torn from the floor but floating beneath him. Every console is shattered and the tough Altean plastic they are made from floats like droplets of water around them, frozen drops of blood is everywhere else. Sparks shower the cockpit from panels that have exploded outwards, leaving wires dragging, and ancient power crystals cracked and exposed.

"Keith! Open your eyes, look at me." Even a cursory scan shows Keith has serious injuries. The blood has come from a long gash above Keith's temple, protected under the closed helmet now but it was clearly open when he suffered the injury.

 _"Shiro? Shiro, Coran needs to talk to you."_ Lance's face appears on a screen that pops up from his gauntlet. _"He says it's important, like life or death important. Your life."_

Shiro unclips the line from his belt and attaches it to Keith. "Tell him to get in line." The younger man's eyes flutter and for a tick it feels like he's going to wake up but he doesn't. "It's going to have to wait, Lance, I'm sending Keith over, hit the winch now. I'll try and keep him clear of any obstructions. Pidge, what's under the Black Lion? Hunk, have you set the tow cables?" He clears the top hatch, turning to use his Galra hand, tracing the cable's journey as it brings Keith up safely. "Easy, Lance, slow and steady."

The Black Lion shudders and Shiro struggles to stay on his feet. "Guys? Talk to me, what's going on?" He stabilises Keith and lowers him down the side of the Black Lion, using his jetpack to follow and keep Keith from getting tangled on torn sections of the hull. Lance meets him at the base of the Red Lion's open jaw, taking Keith's legs as Shiro carries his shoulders. Shiro isn't sure he can even carry him like he's carried Allura or Pidge, not because Keith is that much heavier but because Shiro feels weaker than when he entered the Black Lion. Is he experiencing a lull in his quintessence?

 _"Coran said to get your quiznaking ass back to the quiznaking castle,"_ says Lance with a crooked grin as he helps secure Keith in the spare seat and slides back into the pilot's seat. _"Right quiznaking now."_

"I will, when we have the tow cables set up to take Black back with us. No Black Lion, no Voltron. Remember?" Shiro frowns, it's more personal than that though, Black is the other half of his soul and without Black, even peripherally with a new paladin, he'd sooner be dead.

Lance raises his hands, "I'm just the messenger."

Pidge cuts in. _"Shiro, I can't find anything on any of my equipment. What did you see?"_

He's not sure anymore, did he see something or was it simply his exhaustion, creating hallucinations? "Forget it, Pidge. Maybe I imagined the whole thing." Shiro frowns and turns back to stand above the ramp. "Hunk, I need an update, are the tow cables in place?"

 _"About that-- small problem, the Red Lion's tow cable keeps detaching. We need them both, Yellow could probably do haul Black alone on full strength but something drained both Lions coming out of the storm so there’s no way he can do it now."_ Hunk sounds apologetic. _"Can you check the cable?"_

Clipping the safety line back onto his belt, Shiro steps down, dropping off the edge of the ramp and using the jetpack to maneuver into position. The cable is floating free and he checks the charge to find it depleted after so many rescues. It's not going to be towing anything. "Damn," he murmurs. "Guys, I need to grab something from inside the Black Lion." Thankfully, the heavy duty lifting hook is still stowed in the cargo space, where he last saw it. He drags it back to the tow cable, freeing the magnetic head and resetting it for the hook. "Almost there."  He wraps it around the base of one of the wings. "I'm going to ride back in Red, Black's cockpit is too damaged." The Black Lion is silent, not a whisper of anything to let Shiro know its even functional, it must be though, has to be.

He steps back out into the free space, activating the jetpack.

 _"Shiro! Shiro, I can see it and it's moving, get clear! Get clear now!"_ Pidge screams over the comlink so hard the feedback wails in his ear and he jerks his head.

A shimmering metallic form rises up from the far side of the Black Lion and hits Shiro side-on as he turns toward it, the jaw is open, taking him in one bite, snapping the line securing him to the Red Lion.

Lance is screaming over the comm. _"Where is he? Can anyone see him? I haven't got eyes on!"_

 _"No, he's gone, it got him,"_ Pidge wails, she's sobbing and Hunk is raging in the background.

He wants to comfort them, tell them he's still alive. The Voltron Lions all roar in through the connection and then they're gone, cut off, and so are the paladin’s voices.

'Oh quiznak,' he thinks, lying paralysed and breathless on a ramp that's a twin to Black’s, as the quintessence drains in a rush from his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come shout at me @crazywordsmustache on tumblr.
> 
> NOTE: You are not imagining it. As I was writing chapter six, there was a point where the latter part of the chapter had progressed to needing one all of its own. So voila! Extra chapter goodness to look forward to.


	7. Queen's Lion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This quintant, we drape ourselves in the colors of mourning to remember our honored dead. Those who have fallen while on the journey to this unprecedented age of peace and prosperity with those we now, unconditionally, call friend."--excerpt from the official biovidography of Prince Alfor, Royal Alchemist and Queen's Consort, the quote one of the last attributed the Queen of Altea.

The voice, it’s strange, continuously breaking and repeating-- like corrupted audio, but his helmet is patching the broken words together so the words are complete and recognisable. _"Hello? Hello? Wake up, what are you, please?”_

Shiro’s eyelids are heavy, he’s not sure he _can_ open them-- he's still so surprised to be alive at all. He's been feeling weak since rescuing Pidge but more than ever since he was snatched after pulling Keith out of the Black Lion. He attempts something small, moving a finger, and fails.

Whoever is speaking to him has begun to talk to themselves in the absence of a reply from Shiro.  _“Not Altean, not Galra either, not anything recorded. The prosthetic limb displays basic Galra design but the armour is Altean. Such odd energy readings, it’s quintessence is completely out of balance.”_

Earth surrounds him as the Yellow Lion embraces his spirit, water trickles down his cheeks as Blue shares her concern, vines infused with the Green Lion's energy prod his heart gently, fire warms his chill skin and the Red Lion growls directly in his mind. Starlight breathes into him-- albeit reluctantly.

That stings.

He’s lying on an angle, curled into himself, arms wrapped around his body, chin near his knees. To all extents and purposes, he is unable to move more than an eyelash and that was a strain. The gift of quintessence from the Voltron Lions gives him a tiny second wind and he coughs feebly, opening his eyes. Words stream across his visor in old Altean, and he blinks, frowning. “Repeat?” he asks, his voice so soft as to be barely louder than a breath.

 _“Oh, you_ are _special. Alfor would be intrigued.”_

Shiro is pretty sure Alfor wouldn't be. He’s in the mouth of the quintessence vampire which now appears to be a Lion in the same style of the Voltron Lions, and the pilot is questioning him in ancient Altean and the rich tone of their voice, even broken, is familiar. Raising his head an inch, he looks around. It’s loud with the hurricane outside clawing and battering at the strange Lion, howling and tearing at its skin. It's old, that much is obvious. It’s also not _exactly_ like the other Lions-- everything he can see is smaller, worn at the edges, and pared down to the barest essentials. More than that, it’s decorative, inside anyway. The metal appears elegantly shaped, down to the finest details, there are motifs everywhere; animals that bear no resemblance to anything he’s ever seen before except... maybe he _has_ seen them-- in the castle library, in books on Altea-- the culture, the world, the wildlife, before it all fell to Zarkon. It's not a weapon, it's a work of art.

“Who?” One word, it exhausts him.

_“My question first.”_

The pilot replaces the paladin’s chatter over his comm. He misses them already, enough to create a pang in his chest. With the pilot, there’s a hint of superiority but also, each time they speak, the translation to Earth common is cleaner and clearer.

“Human. From Earth.” He’s drooling and it’s creating a gross pool in his helmet, beneath his cheek.

_“Earth? Did that translate correctly? Surely your planet is not named Earth? That would be like calling Altea ‘Light’ or something equally ridiculous.”_

He snorts, they have a point. “Not me who named it,” he grunts, attempting to push his body up from the floor on shaking arms, around him the Lion is shuddering, so it’s not easy. There’s gravity and the inertial dampers are keeping him from being thrown around but the constant movement is jarring, as if…. Are the Lions pursuing them? “Don’t hurt my paladins,” he growls with all the strength of a newborn kitten. “They’ll stop if they know I’m okay.”

_“Be still, young human, we need to concentrate for a tick.”_

Young human? That’s _so_ Altean but if they aren’t being chased by the paladins then who is the pilot running from? Groaning, he gives up trying to push himself up and flips onto his back. The ceiling is also ornamental, more so that the walls and even the deck plate beneath him is decorated with plants and fruits and flowers. He recognises a field of juniberry flowers trailing towards the cockpit. It’s the living representation of a dead world. He wants to know everything-- about the Lion, about its paladin. “Let me talk to them anyway.”

 _“The other Lions have not moved from their last position, where we saved_ you _from being consumed. It was foolish to be in the storm. Them remaining in it is equally foolish. You must_ _direct them away from the planet. They have already been drained once, our intervention saved them from death then but we will not be able to bear a repeat of that. We have little enough quintessence ourselves.”_

Wait. What? Consume? Save them? None of it is gelling with what the paladins reported earlier.

_“Lion, hail the paladins of Voltron. You will have but a dobosh or two to speak.”_

A cacophony of voices explode in his ears-- Pidge, Lance, and Hunk all talking over each other. In the background, Coran tries to cut in, he can't hear Allura, she must surely still be healing. Pidge and Lance want to re-enter the storm in pursuit of Shiro’s abductor, to rescue him. Hunk’s concern lies with Keith. Coran is trying to tell them something about the moon, the planet, and Shiro’s medical condition.

Keith groans, it’s barely audible beneath the other paladins but to Shiro it’s louder than a scream. Why isn’t he in a cryo pod?

_"And that's when I punched that furry little quiznak in the face...."_

_"Coran, you punched a fuzzy bear?"_ Hunk chuckles and Shiro smiles, Hunk's sense of humour is so similar to his own.

The pilot clears their throat politely and he remembers time is of the essence. “Guys… Guys... Guys....” They can’t hear him, not over the noise they’re making. He drags in a deep breath. “PALADINS.”

Shiro falls back, wheezing, as four voices fall silent. Then, _“Number One, is that you, my boy? We’ve been mildly concerned since you ran off, how are you feeling?”_ There is so much genuine kindness, compassion, packed into that one query, Shiro feels the prick of tears. Coran's concern undoes him for moment. It’s the exhaustion, because normal energy-level Shiro doesn’t cry if someone asks him how he is feeling, right?

 _"Mildly concerned?"_ repeats Hunk in surprise.

 _"Shiro didn't run off, Coran!"_ squawks Pidge.

Lance adds, _"Yeah, it was more of a snatch and grab."_

_"Pipe down, young paladins, Number One, are you still there?"_

It doesn’t escape his notice that the pilot gasped at Coran's voice but Shiro files it way for the moment. “Coran, yes. I’m alive, obviously. Guys, stop quiznaking around and get Keith into a quiznaking cryo pod.”

The channel closes before they can reply with more than a lightspeed quip from Lance. _“I don’t think you’re using that word right, Shiro.”_

Shiro doesn’t move more than his lips the entire time and lies there for a bit after, just breathing and thinking. He wants to sleep forever, eat a home cooked meal with ingredients that he actually recognises, and he wants to feel warm again because he's so cold and he’s only just noticing it now. “Pilot?”

_“I am here.”_

“Can we talk?”

 _“Are we not talking now, Shiro of Earth?”_ There is a sad amusement behind the words.

Shiro frowns and pushes to sit upright again, then drags himself to his feet when he succeeds at the first. He clings to claws and wings, horns and snouts, and he makes it upright albeit with a sense of uncertainly about how long he will stay that way. “Face to face, and it’s just Shiro.”

The pilot is silent for a time. _“Face to face, just Shiro? That might be... somewhat of a problem.”_

“Now that you know mine, do you have a name?” Getting to the cockpit is going to be a mission if he can’t stay on his feet long. He’s not wrong, it takes doboshes to climb the ramp and when he gets there, he pauses for a tick, to catch his breath. Then waits for the pilot to notice him.

Everything, _everything,_ is a mirror image of the Voltron Lions he knows so well, but with a degree of ornamentation that puts what he's already seen to shame, he’s not even seen this in the castle. Every surface is dull with age but it must have shone with diamond brilliance when the Lion was young.

The lights crackle and blink as lightning crashes outside in the storm. The view screens suffer the same power fluctuations that he saw earlier in the Red Lion. The room falls into darkness several times as he watches.

“Pilot,” he calls, softly, though he's not sure why. The helmeted figure in front of him doesn’t move at all, and in the poor light, he cannot make out the colour of their uniform. “Pilot?”

In front of the pilot, the Lion’s dash opens and folds back like a flower, a Balmeran crystal rises up from the protective casing. It’s inner light is waning, it’s gone far past its use-by date he suspects. His heart is in his mouth when the hologram flickers to life. Only ten inches or so in height, the avatar looks so much like Allura that it hurts. Shiro knows her, he’s seen her in so many holovids and books in the castle library when he tried to silence the pain in his heart and distract himself from losing his Lion. She's wearing a dress not unlike the one Allura had on as she emerged from cryosleep.

“Queen Almaria of Altea,” he says gently, smiling apologetically as he clings desperately to the door frame, hoping not to fall on his face. “I would kneel but I don’t think I can get back up again if I did. Please forgive me?”

 _“Shiro, you are forgiven, of course,”_ she replies, smiling just as apologetically, gesturing at the pilot. _“I am indisposed myself or I would assist you.”_

“Indisposed?” repeats Shiro, but he knows what she will say from her expression.

The Queen’s hands laces together and sighs softly. _“Dead.”_

He nods sharply, eyes anywhere but on the body. “Ah.”

 _“As you will be if you remain here.”_ Her eyes stare right through him.

His head lifts in surprise. “Oh.”

A rumble suffuses the cockpit around them and they both look up. _“Lion, find us a dead storm to hide in.”_

“Storms can be dead?” he asks, it's the worst time to be curious but he finds the Queen as easy to listen to as her daughter.

 _“All living things die.”_ He shivers but she continues, her silver brows knit together in a frown. _“Here, it is not the planet that lives but the storms. They are alive in a way I cannot explain, they hunger endlessly for quintessence, catching and draining anything that they capture. Altea has no record of such beings but Coran might know, he always had a fondness for xenozoology. Those ghastly little Klanmurel-like creatures on the moon are connected to the storms, them and their sacred tree.”_

Shiro grimaces, recalling that many of his current crop of problems began after drinking juice from that tree. “Sacred trees, not to be trusted,” he growls.

She nods, amused. _“The juice of that particular tree does terrible things to those strong in quintessence. I sensed the effects when you stepped out of the Red Lion to help the Black Paladin. I was not alone in sensing it-- you are quite the juicy treat to the storms.”_

Ah. To her, of course Keith is the Black Paladin and coupled with the Black Lion's reticence in helping him earlier, the sting of rejection is born anew in Shiro’s soul. He pushes through it, his smile lopsided and apologetic. “We all thought that you were the quintessence vampire,” he offers with a chuckle, it’s silly in hindsight, and he shrugs, embarrassed by it now.

Queen Almaria laughs and it’s like hearing Allura laugh. _“Me?”_

“And your Lion.” The Lion shudders and he loses his balance, falling towards the pilot’s seat. He grips the back and finally sees that the helmet is accented pink, matching the uniform, but the seat has white wings that fold over the top of each corner, the feathers picked out in silver thread. “You're the first pink paladin,” he breathes, in amazement, none of this was in any of the vids.

Her face is suffused with warmth and love. _“It was Alfor's idea."_

“How did your Lion even come to exist? I thought King Alfor used all of the comet ore creating the Voltron Lions….” He isn’t sure if he should tell her that her husband is no longer alive, it’s not his place to tell her, nor that he is dead at the hand of his friend and ally. That all of her friends, her people, her world are long dead. No, not completely, Allura lives, Coran, the tiny mice. Altea is diminished but not forgotten.

She looks up at Shiro suddenly, as if she can sense his thoughts. _“There were many pieces of comet ore left after Alfor built the Lions though he was quite enamoured of the idea that they were conscious in his design, guiding him. Perhaps they saw the White Lion in his mind after he returned from Oriande. The pieces of ore began to vanish and Alfor was concerned that someone was stealing them. Imagine his surprise when he discovered a Lion building itself in the storage area of his laboratory."_ She studies Shiro's face before continuing. _“The Lion summoned me one night from sleep. It glowed in the darkness, its mouth opening to receive me. Oh how I had envied the paladins of Voltron their bond, Alfor spoke of his Lion with such affection, I believe the Lion felt something for him in return. In my heart, I know it did. In my excitement, I told my husband of the new Lion and he created paladin armour for me with a bayard.”_

Shiro sees a familiar shape in the receptacle, the hand grip of a pink bayard waiting for the Queen's hand to reach out and take hold of it once more. “Black Lion of the air, Red Lion of fire, Green Lion of forests, Blue Lion of water, and Yellow Lion of earth," he says thoughtfully. "What's your Lion’s affinity?” he asks, glancing at the carved reliefs that cover almost all surfaces.

 _“Is it not obvious, Shiro?”_ she asks, her mouth twitching into a smile.

He sees where Allura gets many of the mannerisms he is fond of. “Life?”

She inclines her head.

“King Alfor kept the Lion's existence from the other paladins, even from Coran. It's not in the historical record so we didn't know to even search for it or we would have come sooner.” His eyes meet hers before he rounds the pilot’s seat. The armour clings to the desiccated form, left so fragile over time. Her body is not perfectly preserved but the finer details are still there beneath the visor; the marks of the chosen glisten on her cheekbones, wisps of soft silver hair lie against her cheeks, and long lashes like silver brushstrokes shine against her skin. Her mouth is parted and he knows all too well that moment of one last breath. If she drank the juice of the tree then her death was not easy… or painless. “I’m sorry.” It doesn’t seem enough.

 _"I was dead before I could escape the storms. My Lion has suffered a thousand agonies since...."_ Her face is a riot of emotion that she gradually regains control of, her mouth remains tight and thin though. _"Alfor and I, we argued the last night I spent on Altea. I felt that expansion was the way forward but Alfor was haunted by something Zarkon had said when he visited Honerva's laboratory. We could not even agree to disagree. He was trying to protect me, but from what, I'm not sure. I left in a rage, thinking to clear my head, the Lion flew far from home and one lethal fruit juice ended me.”_ She covers her mouth, closing her eyes for a tick.  _"I am sorry, speaking so candidly of my death is painful."_

"Is there anything I can do to help?" he asks gently.

 _"You can fly my Lion free of the storms._ _There is a small problem though."_

Shiro snorts, when is there not a problem relating to him and Lions. “Problem?”

 _“The Queen’s Lion requires specific quintessence. Alfor was unable to ascertain why, we spent many pleasant evenings together trying to discover the reason but it remains a mystery even now.”_ She looks at him with regret. _“It will be painful, Shiro, the Galra made prosthesis contains very dark quintessence which will make it more difficult. It will take from you more than you possibly have to give, especially now. Perhaps you were correct in calling it a quintessence vampire.”_

He opens his mouth to reply but the castle hails them, they sound far away, the connection is so weak. “Hey,” he says, smiling when the paladins call his name.

Allura’s voice is a balm to his aching heart. _“Shiro... Shiro, tell me you are safe?”_

“Princess Allura, yes, safe for the moment.” He sees Queen Almaria’s eyes widen then close as she falls to her knees, hand to her mouth. He’s never seen a hologram weep. “Keith?”

 _“Is pretty angry... at you... right now!”_ growls Keith, faltering every few ticks. He sounds about as weak as Shiro feels but there is hellfire in his voice and it promises a future rant of epic proportions. He hopes he lives long enough to witness it.

 _“As you can hear for yourself, Keith refuses to go into a cryo pod until you are safely returned to us.”_ There is a breathless amusement to the princess’s voice and Shiro wishes he could see them all but the connection is terrible.

“Get in the damn pod, Keith. That’s an order!”

 _“You’re not… the boss… of me,”_ grunts Keith, coughing as he spits out the last.

Shiro hangs his head, if he wasn't wearing a helmet, it would be in his hands. “Please.”

There is a noise, a disturbance on the other end. _“Aaaaand Keith’s out, Hunk, you take his legs and I’ll take an arm, and Pidge, you take the other… or okay, Coran can just take all of him. We’re putting him in a cryo pod now, Shiro,”_ says Lance, with that lightness that only Lance can bring to any disaster.

“Thanks.” He wants to say goodbye, he might not get another chance. He wants to tell them he loves them, that they saved him, so many times, in so many ways, they saved him. “I’ll see you all soon,” he says instead, his eyes brimming, he can’t wipe them and must endure the trails down his cheeks.

“We miss you, come home, Shiro,” replies Allura, choking on his name, perhaps she can sense his deception, perhaps she is simply as overcome as he is by the events of the last movement.

 _“Do not lose faith,”_ says the Queen gently, severing the connection to the Castle before he can fumble out a response or reveal her existence to the surviving Alteans. _“There is still hope.”_

 

He lifts the fragile body from the seat and secures it in a large storage lockers, she laughs when he apologises. “It’s not dignified or befitting of a Queen of Altea though,” he argues stubbornly.

_“I am certain my body feels nothing at this moment, Shiro, do not concern yourself.”_

Sitting in her seat gingerly, his hands automatically seek the controls but the Queen stops him. She has warned against touching the controls until he is ready. _“My Lion and I have survived this long by travelling through dead storms, pursued by their living brethren. Your people are the first to come here in hundreds of deca-phoebs. The storm that captured the Voltron Lions is the largest and strongest of those still inhabiting the planet. It is in constant motion and is close to us now. If it had not fed, it might have withered and died, and I would have been free to return home. It will try to stop us leaving, I am certain. It is time.”_

Home. Why wouldn’t she think Altea still stood tall and shining in the universe. “Queen Almaria….” His suit beeps and an image appears across his visor-- the air is getting low. Of course it is. He needs to reserve what is left.

 _"It will be good... to see the Castle of Lions, it was home when my family was whole,"_  she muses, her gaze is distant.

He hums agreement, he would like to see home one last time too.

The last storm overtakes them and immediately, the Lion feels like it’s coming apart, as if the skin of the machine will peel away like paper in the ferocious winds. Shiro will take over when they are past the walls of the hurricane and into the deceptively calm eye, until then, the Queen and her Lion are in charge. _“One chance,”_ says the Queen.

His hands curve over the controls, their shape is similar to Allura's controls on the castle. A spark leaps over his fingers as they find purchase. It burns, the Lion needs so much more than Black ever did. Shiro curls over in the seat, screaming. He has never known pain like this, distantly he wonders if losing his arm had hurt as much.

Something enters his consciousness, warm and fluid, it surrounds and braces him against the pain. Blue, Yellow, Green, Red, and... Shiro sobs as the last Lion arrives. For a moment, all is perfect again and then it's gone, and he feels the Queen’s Lion turn towards him. It’s as raw and elemental as it was the first time it attempted to contact him, and he intuitively knows why the Queen is the only worthy paladin. He sees her through the Lion's eyes as she approaches it in Alfor's laboratory, a space overflowing with quaint items the King had collected over the years, for alchemical research; skeletal remains, preserved plants, seeds, flowers, fur, tusks, venom. The Lion is aware it is simply another novelty until their quintessence blends. She isn't a natural pilot but the Lion compensates and in its mind, they soar. The Lion loves her, would do anything for her.

He wrenches his hands free from the controls, there is so little life left in him, he collapses back in the seat gasping. Distantly, he is aware of the particle barrier rising and screens stabilising, Altean flows like a river of information, he can only pick one word out of a hundred at the speed it’s streaming. A wormhole opens in the upper atmosphere but dissipates before they can reach it. Was it Allura? The Queen shimmers as the crystal begins to power down. Almaria smiles, she doesn’t speak, or can’t, and he watches her vanish as the memory crystal retreats back into the dash.

The Lion begins to explore the connections that Shiro has with the other Lions and they tentatively return that curiosity from afar. They rumble and keen but it's too late. The castle appears on the screen to his side, the Lions erupting from their hangars. None of them can get there fast enough but against the odds, the Queen’s Lion breaks free of the storm on its own, piercing the last layers of atmosphere like a knife pointed at Othara.

Something strikes at the Lion from the rear, a view screen pointing behind them shows the storm making one last attempt to recapture them, rising up like a massive tornado before falling away just as quickly. The blow sends them into an uncontrolled spin towards the forest moon and systems begin to crash around him. Alarms wail as the Lion attempts to slow its descent and the barrier formed from his quintessence fails. The Lion has withstood so much for so long, there is nothing left for contingencies but it's sentient enough to know it doesn’t want to face its end either. 

Shiro reaches out to silence the alarms and places his hands back on the controls, it still burns but everything is crystal clear in his head. Allura deserves a mother, even one that is now only a living memory like her father before. He will bear the pain for her. If he can’t pilot the Lion of his heart, he can try and ensure that Almaria’s legacy endures.

His heart and mind slow as the moon fills the forward screen, a planet wide forest growing closer, and he realises with crushing certainty that in this Lion, he isn’t going to survive. It’s too small, the armour is thin and weak from more than ten thousand years of raging storms and heavy gravity. Even in the Black Lion, this would be bad. In the Queen’s Lion there is simply no hope of surviving. The dash begins to shift before his eyes, strengthening and thickening around the Queen's crystal, support struts form in a spiderweb throughout the interior, and the Lion growls audibly.

It surprises him when they make it through the atmosphere, the heat in the cockpit is unbearable for a tick or two. They’re a falling star burning through a beautiful sunset, a single screen relays colours that are so much like home before flickering out and he's left in darkness. They’re going to leave a sizeable scar through the forest. Possibly visible from the castle. Small relief that it will make finding the Lion easier.

 _“Shiro, noble son of Earth,”_ whispers the Queen though his helmet comm.

“My Queen, it’s been an honour,” he rasps before they strike the first trees. It occurs then, something they didn't even consider.

He reaches for the Queen's bayard as the Lion roars in pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for sticking with me. Almost there, only one more chapter to go. I'm sorry for not replying to the last couple of comments on chapter seven, I love you and I'll reply to them tomorrow.
> 
> Shout at me @crazywordsmustache.

**Author's Note:**

> Historical note: More dumb sickness inspired crap.


End file.
